Murder Trial Set for Bo Xilai's Wife

August 3, 2012

The Wall Street Journal 

By JEREMY PAGE 
 

BEIJING—The murder trial of Gu Kailai, wife of the ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai, will begin on Thursday morning in the eastern city of Hefei, a spokeswoman for the court hearing the case said Friday.

Reuters

A combination of two photographs shows British business consultant Neil Heywood and Gu Kailai, wife of the ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai

The official at the Intermediate People's Court in Hefei suggested that public and media access to the proceedings would be tightly controlled, saying that seats in the courtroom were "already filled up."

Highlights of WSJ Bo Xilai Coverage

• WSJ Documentary
• Children of the Revolution (11/26/11)
• 'Jackie Kennedy' of China (4/9/12)
• Fearful Hours for Briton (4/12/12)
• Bo Xilai Scandal Fells a Tycoon (7/22/12)
• French Architect Embroiled in Scandal (7/23/12)

She said she didn't have any information about whether foreign diplomats would be able to attend the trial of Ms. Gu and a family aide for the murder of Neil Heywood, a British business consultant.

The British Embassy said it has asked Chinese authorities for permission to send some of its diplomats to attend the trial, but a spokesman said it still hadn't received an official response late Friday.

The embassy spokesman declined to comment on whether members of the Heywood family were trying to get access to the courtroom. Mr. Heywood's family members have repeatedly declined to comment to the media.

The trial is a crucial step in the Communist Party's efforts to draw a line under the political scandal surrounding Mr. Bo, who was sacked from his Party posts and placed under investigation in April.

The Chongqing Drama

See key dates in the mysterious death of Neil Heywood in the Chinese city of Chongqing and the drama surrounding Bo Xilai.

View Interactive

Players in China's Leadership Purge

Read more about the players in the case.

View Interactive

• More photos and interactive graphics

Mr. Heywood, who had been close to the Bo family since the mid-1990s, was found dead in his hotel room in November in Chongqing, the city that Mr. Bo was governing at the time as local Party chief.

Ms. Gu is accused of poisoning Mr. Heywood with the help of her family aide in the belief that he threatened the safety of her son following a "conflict of economic interests," the state-run Xinhua news agency said last week.

Mr. Bo is under investigation for unspecified "serious disciplinary violations," according to previous Xinhua statements.

Mr. Bo and his wife haven't commented publicly on the accusations against them.

Chinese authorities have not yet published the full indictment against Ms. Gu and the family aide, Zhang Xiaojun, which lawyers say should be read out on the first day of the trial. Nor have they officially announced whether the trial will be open or closed.

But lawyers and legal experts say Chinese authorities are likely to use a familiar formula for politically sensitive cases—declaring the trial officially open, but then saying that all the seats in the courtroom are already occupied.

Write to Jeremy Page at jeremy.page@wsj.com

Intrigue in Chongqing

• Nov. 15, 2011: British businessman Neil Heywood is found dead in his hotel room in the Chinese city of Chongqing.

• Nov. 16, 2011: Chongqing authorities inform British officials of Mr. Heywood's death.

• Nov. 17, 2011: British Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne meets in Chongqing with its Communist Party chief, Bo Xilai; doesn't raise issue of the death.

• Feb. 6, 2012: Wang Lijun, just fired as Chongqing police chief, enters a U.S. consulate in the city of Chengdu, where he alleges Mr. Heywood was poisoned after a dispute with Mr. Bo's wife.

• Feb. 7, 2012: After talks with Chongqing's mayor, Mr. Wang leaves the building and is detained by security agents.

• Feb. 8, 2012: Lawyer Wei Rujiu posts on Sina Weibo that Mr. Wang was refused U.S. asylum and has been taken to Beijing. State Department says he left of his own accord. Chongqing government says Mr. Wang is stressed and is undergoing 'vacation-style treatment.'

• Feb. 15, 2012: The U.K. asks China to investigate Mr. Heywood's death, but doesn't make the request public.

• March 9, 2012: Bo Xilai admits 'negligent supervision' but denies he offered to resign from the Politburo or is under investigation in relation to the scandal.

• March 15, 2012: China announces the dismissal of Mr. Bo as party chief of Chongqing. Discussion explodes on social-media sites.

• March 25, 2012: The U.K. announces that it has asked China to open an investigation into Mr. Heywood's death.

• April 10, 2012: Mr. Bo is suspended from his party positions and his wife, Gu Kailai, is in custody as a suspect in the murder of Mr. Heywood, Chinese state media say.

• April 17, 2012: The British government details for the first time its response to the death of Mr. Heywood in China. 'We now wish to see the conclusion of a full investigation,' U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague says in a statement.

• June 19, 2012: Police in Cambodia say they have arrested Patrick Henri Devillers, a French architect who had close ties to Ms. Gu, in Phnom Penh. Cambodian officials say the Chinese government has asked Cambodia to extradite Mr. Devillers to China.

• June 21, 2012: Cambodian authorities say they won't extradite the Frenchman but are continuing to investigate him, after France urges Cambodia not to act without a sound legal basis.

• July 17, 2012: Mr. Devillers flies to Shanghai after Cambodian authorities release him without charge at the 'suggestion' of the Chinese government, a Foreign Ministry spokesman says.

• July 26, 2012: Chinese prosecutors indict Ms. Gu and a family aide named Zhang Xiaojun on charges of intentional homicide, according to state media. Xinhua says an investigation found that Ms. Gu poisoned Mr. Heywood with the help of the aide, believing the Briton threatened her son's safety following a financial dispute.