No winners in showcase trial, observers say

While the gripping trial of fallen Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai was a landmark case in transparency for the mainland legal system, no winners emerged from the five-day saga, analysts said.

The flood of sensational details about Bo's family - including the complicated networks to solicit bribes and an alleged affair between Bo's wife Gu Kailai and his former police chief Wang Lijun - raise questions about how harsh a sentence Bo is likely to receive.

Observers were taken aback when Bo, rather than pleading guilty, denied all three charges against him and launched a staunch defence that discredited Gu and Wang as witnesses. But the release of such details through an official microblog was a step designed to add more credibility to what was largely expected to be a tightly managed affair, they said.

"It is normal for the accused to defend himself," said Zhang Ming, a political analyst at Renmin University. "If Bo pleaded guilty immediately after the opening of the trial, it would just create an impression that it was merely a show."

There is little doubt that the trial and the pending verdict will destroy Bo's political career, putting an end to China's worst political crisis in decades. But, analysts said, Bo's defiance reinforced his standing among leftists who supported his spreading of ultraconservative thought in Chongqing, which triggered the power struggle in the first place.

"This is a process without winners," said Jonathan Holslag, head of research at the Brussels Institute Contemporary China Studies. "Politically, Bo is finished, but he has certainly caused new divisions within the Communist Party and confirmed the persistent bias of the Chinese political system towards nationalism and populism."

While showing his spirited side, Bo dared not criticise the party leadership. His most stunning attacks were directed against Gu and Wang - describing his estranged wife as "insane" and his former right-hand man as "vile" and obsessed with Gu.