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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044353740457757852196821211...
The hasty trial this week of Gu Kailai, wife of disgraced politician Bo Xilai, on charges of poisoning her British business agent has yielded tantalising details of the scandal that has shaken the ruling Communist party and shocked the nation.
Neil Heywood was promised a £130m return on a property investment which did not materialise, it was alleged, upon which he demanded 10 per cent of that sum as compensation from Ms Gu’s son, Bo Guagua. In an email shown to the court, Mr Heywood threatened to “destroy” the couple’s son if he did not comply, according to people present in the courtroom.
While these details may yet shed more light on the Bo family’s financial dealings, however, a further revelation carries more immediate significance.
According to testimony presented to the court on Thursday, Wang Lijun – the former Chongqing police chief who triggered the scandal by revealing the murder allegations to the US consulate – allegedly plotted with Ms Gu early on to frame Mr Heywood.
从宽处理 This account increases the significance of Mr Wang’s own trial and will raise further questions over the credibility of the investigation, which has so far made no mention of involvement or knowledge on the part of Mr Bo – despite the central roles in the scandal of two people in close contact with the former regional party leader whose push for top office upset the ruling Communist party’s preparations for picking a new leadership.
Mr Wang was accused of hatching a plan with Ms Gu to set up Mr Heywood for a drugs bust, according to two people who attended Thursday’s hearing in the Chinese backwater of Hefei. This “conspiracy” had been under way before Ms Gu poisoned Mr Heywood last November, one source said.
The second person added that Ms Gu informed Mr Wang of Mr Heywood’s murder immediately after his death, and the police chief helped to cover it up.
The revelations come as Mr Wang is expected to face a jury as early as next week. “The trial will take place in a few days in Chengdu,” said a Chongqing government official.
The court said on Friday that four other former Chongqing police officers had admitted subverting the law to help cover up Ms Gu’s alleged crime. The prosecution said the four had hidden evidence and fabricated interviews with witnesses.
The prosecution has accused Ms Gu of pouring a glass of water laced with potassium cyanide into Mr Heywood’s mouth on the night of November 13 last year in a Chongqing hotel room after making him drunk.
Mr Wang was described in court as having helped to cover up the murder, but it was said he at the same time also collected forensic evidence which later helped in the investigation against her. 法医证据
Mr Wang’s trial is set to attract as much attention as this week’s hearings because he was long a close ally of Mr Bo’s and acted as his henchman as the populist politician went after political foes. 他的心腹，民粹主义
Mr Wang, a 62-year-old ethnic Mongol, is still feared and loathed among legal experts in China because his campaign-style crackdowns on organised crime contributed to hollowing out China’s already weak criminal justice system. A career policeman who started in traffic police, Mr Wang had a penchant for patents – hundreds are registered under his name, mostly design patents including that for a white uniform worn by female traffic police officers who are picked for their looks. Mr Wang also had himself commemorated in books and a crime TV soap, and saw himself as a hero.
When Ms Gu once called him to complain about noisy patrons of her favourite Chongqing restaurant, the police chief came storming in and silenced them waving his gun, according to restaurant staff.
But now, Mr Wang is playing a very different part. He set off the scandal around Mr Bo in February when he fled to the US consulate in Chengdu offering insider knowledge, including the claim that Ms Gu had murdered Mr Heywood. This drastic step came after a falling-out with Mr Bo and a central government investigation against Mr Bo and himself. It is unclear which charges the former police chief will face. Popular sentiment is not favourable. 民众的情绪
"He must be punished severely because he ran to the Americans,” said a Hefei local in his 50s who gave only his surname, Zhao. “No matter how bad things are, as a Chinese, you don’t go to the US consulate."
Lawyers said Mr Wang could face charges of treason and be accused of subverting the law, but he could be treated leniently because he has contributed so much information key to the investigations against his former masters. 叛国罪，从宽处理
外媒：审谷是序幕 整薄大戏将上演
8月9日，中共前重庆市委书记薄熙来妻子谷开来故意杀人案的首日庭审。
中国的官方宣传无法掩盖这一丑闻中最关键内幕，实际上是薄熙来的政治命运，周四的审判只是一场涉及范围更大的、早已策划好的政治大戏的一部分。
作者回顾30多年前中国对毛泽东妻子江青为首的四人帮的审判说，当时法庭用了六个星期时间，才完成了对四人帮在文化大革命中所犯罪行的审判。
但对坠落的中国政治明星薄熙来的妻子谷开来的故意杀人审判，却只花了不到一天的时间，在当天下午就宣布休庭，择日宣判。
文章认为，对谷开来的审判只是一场更大的精心策划好的政治大戏的一部分，薄熙来的政治命运才是这出戏中最关键的因素。
薄熙来曾经大张旗鼓发起打黑唱红运动，与政界、军界一些高官结成联盟，希望进入目前中共最高领导层政治局常委行列。中共目前正在北戴河开会商讨政治局常委人选。
但是薄熙来过于放肆的政治表现被中共最高领导人看作是对他们的挑战，而在前重庆市公安局长王立军逃往美国驻成都领事馆，以及妻子谷开来因谋杀英国商人海伍德被调查之后，薄熙来则受到中共高层的清洗。Deposed Leader
在中共十八大召开之前的敏感时机审判谷开来，引发对这一审判目的的疑问，人们怀疑这一审判可能被用来破坏薄熙来的声誉，以证明对他的清除purge是正确之举，并把此事对中共造成的损害降到最低程度。
文章引述北京道衡律师事务所梁晓军律师的话说，表面上他们把这场审判弄得好像很公正、公开，但实际上许多事情都存有疑问，比如辩护律师是怎样挑选出来的。began and ended in a single day 审结，awaits the verdict, 判决give ... the details of what to expect next.
当局严密注视公众舆论对谷开来审判的反应，昨天下午审判结束后，中国最大的微博网站新浪微博出现临时技术故障，无法正常访问，而那些越过故障留下的对审判的批评，也随即被迅速删除。