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Opinion
Morning Clicks
by John Kennedy
Morning Clicks
by John Kennedy

Wang Lijun's sentence may be much lighter than you think

Will justice truly be served today?

 

Wang Lijun is to be sentenced today. What fate awaits Bo Xilai?
Last night, civil rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang preempted today's verdict by insinuating, through his microblog account, that Wang's sentence will not reflect the severity or extent of abuses of power for which he was responsible during his time as Bo's right-hand man in Chongqing.
Authorities have indicated that Wang will receive a reduced sentence on the charge of "bending the law for personal gain" due to an important contribution he made toward the conviction of Gu Kailai.

Pu writes:

Four crimes have been established, so a conviction is required. But have any crimes been overlooked, any charges not brought against him? Has the extent of each crime been fully ascertained? How did he assist in solving other cases, who did he inform on? Did he leak to the Americans that Gu had murdered someone?

A PSB chief is duty-bound to his country and a murderer turned herself in but he made no arrest! There was no contribution made there, but the crimes of defection and bending the law for personal gain still stand. Tomorrow, how many years will he be given? 

Pu's questions were directed at Hu Xijin, the radical nationalist who heads the People's Daily-owned Global Times tabloid. Late last week, Hu suggested in an update on his Sina Weibo microblog account that justice has been served in convicting Wang, and that that about wraps it up:

Prior to his arrest, Wang Lijun seemed to have boundless powers, opening and closing cases at will, putting anyone he wanted under surveillance and releasing people with impunity. Is this sort of abuse of power an extreme case, or somehow representative?

Wang was once a hero for taking on organised crime, but in ways that were unthinkable once they were known to the public. If he hadn't defected to the American consulate, it doesn't seem that any normal force would have been able to break open this story. This definitely calls for some reflection, and vigilance.

 

Morning Clicks

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The New York Review of Books
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The Yomiuri Shimbun
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