The controversial case involving a prominent politician's wife is at its end, writes CLIFFORD COONANin Beijing
A CHINESE court will issue a verdict today in the trial of Gu Kailai, the wife of purged communist leader Bo Xilai, for the intentional homicide of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Ms Gu has not contested the murder of Mr Heywood but the court in Hefei, in Anhui province, is unlikely to pass the death sentence, as she is believed to have come up with some kind of deal with prosecutors.
China’s court system is controlled by the Communist Party, and the main focus for the party will be to limit any further fallout from the case, especially with a major leadership transition coming at the 18th party congress in the autumn.
The case has caused China’s biggest upset in three decades and looks almost certain to signal the end of the political career of Mr Bo, the charming, ruthless and ambitious former Chongqing party head sacked in March.
Some analysts have said that Ms Gu is taking the fall for her husband and their son Guagua, whose high-spending party lifestyle at Oxford and Harvard angered many ordinary Chinese. Mr Bo may avoid criminal charges and instead face internal party disciplinary censure.
Ms Gu could be given a lengthy jail sentence, or sentenced to death, with a two-year reprieve, which generally means the execution would not be carried out. She could then be given a medical parole after a decent interval.
Mr Heywood was found dead in a hotel room in Chongqing in November, and his death was deemed accidental and his body quickly cremated.
Speculation his death might have been more than a heart attack after a night of heavy drinking intensified in February when Chongqing police chief and Mr Bo’s right-hand man, Wang Lijun, turned up at the US consulate 170 miles away in Chengdu, apparently offering evidence about the death.
Foreign media were not allowed to attend the trial, and what testimony that has come out has been often confusing and contradictory, with dates that make no sense. But it seems Ms Gu said she lured Mr Heywood to a Chongqing hotel, got him drunk, made him vomit and then poured cyanide into his mouth.
She claimed she carried out the murder after he threatened her son in the wake of a failed property deal, said reports from the court.
The picture painted of Mr Heywood is of a hard-drinking, unscrupulous money-launderer dealing in big sums, which sits uneasily with the man his friends have spoken of as a suburban consultant with a mortgage, whose wife had to borrow money to attend his memorial service in London with their two children.
Also charged with accessory in the intentional homicide is a family employee, Zhang Xiaojun.
The trial has an important function, but it entails a careful balancing act by the Chinese authorities. A trial means the powers-that-be can show ordinary people that they are working within the rule of law.
It proves that the wife of an important person can go to court just like anybody else, while it also responds to requests by Britain and the international community for justice for Mr Heywood.
However, the leadership is aware that giving Ms Gu the death penalty could incite public sympathy for her.
All the way through the process, she has been referred to as “Bogu” an unusual formulation with compounds of both her surname and that of her husband. It seems designed to make sure no one forgets that Mr Bo is also a part of this case, even if no direct links have been drawn.
There is a strong political element to her confession.
“The case has produced great losses to the party and the country, for which I ought to shoulder the responsibility, and I will never feel at ease. I am grateful to the humanitarian care shown to me by those who handled the case. I solemnly tell the court that in order to maintain the dignity of the law, I will accept and calmly face any sentence and I also expect a fair and just court decision,” she said, in a statement carried on the Xinhua news agency.