2012-09-18
Prosecutors assert that the former Chongqing police chief covered up a murder and spied on fellow citizens.
Former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun attends a meeting of the National People's Congress in Beijing, March 6, 2011.
Prosecutors told the trial on Tuesday that Wang "knew perfectly well that [Gu] Kailai was under serious suspicion of intentional homicide, but he deliberately covered up for her so that [she] would not be held legally responsible," the official Xinhua news agency reported.
It said Wang, who played the role of crime-busting right-hand man to Bo's populist image, had also used "technical reconnaissance measures against many people on multiple occasions, either without the approval of authorities or by forging approval documents."
The allegation echoes unconfirmed reports that Bo and Wang had tapped the phones of top-ranking leaders in Beijing.
Prosecutors made arguments in an open session trial on Tuesday related to the charges of "bribe-taking" and "bending the law for selfish ends," Xinhua said.
Evidence was heard during a closed-door session on Monday linked to charges of "defection" and "abuse of power."
"The circumstances are especially serious," it quoted prosecutors as saying. "He should be held criminally responsible on charges of bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power, and bribe-taking."
However, the agency said that Wang had apparently struck a deal with the ruling Communist Party's prosecution service.
"Prosecutors said that provided Wang made an important contribution to cracking the case, the penalty for the crime of bending the law for personal gains could be lighter," it said.
"After his defection to the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu, Wang turned himself in and confessed to the crimes he had committed, which could be considered as voluntary surrender," it quoted prosecutors as telling the court.
During the trial, the prosecutors showed relevant evidence, which was cross-examined by Wang Lijun and his defense team, Xinhua said.
It said the trial was attended by members of Wang's family, journalists, deputies to China's parliament, the People's Congress, political advisers and "ordinary citizens."
Sentencing delayed
The trial adjourned on Tuesday, pending a judgment "on a day to be decided," Xinhua said.
Wang, Chongqing's once-powerful police chief and right-hand man to Bo, was charged earlier this month with defection and abuse of official power, by state prosecutors in the provincial capital, Chengdu, official media reported.
The indictment document accuses Wang of serious dereliction of duty for not pursuing an investigation into the wife of his boss, whose removal from office was triggered by Wang's Feb. 6 visit to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu.
Wang is believed to have told U.S. officials that Bo's wife Gu Kailai had murdered a British businessman.
Gu was handed a suspended death sentence by a court in Anhui province last month for the "intentional homicide" of businessman Neil Heywood, who was found dead in a Chongqing hotel room last November.
Bo was widely regarded as a possible candidate for a post on China's all-powerful Politburo standing committee at a crucial leadership transition later this year, until the scandal surrounding Heywood's death emerged, apparently ending his political career.
Chinese authorities appear keen to wrap up the Bo-related cases ahead of a once-in-a-decade leadership transition at the forthcoming 18th Party Congress.
Analysts say they also appear to be at pains to separate the cases of Gu and Wang from that of Bo, so as to minimize political fallout from the scandal.
Before his visit to the U.S. consulate brought events in Chongqing into public awareness, Wang was seen and feted as a determined "supercop," even starring in a TV documentary.
Wang's high-profile anti-crime campaigns clocked up thousands of arrests, and sparked widespread accusations of torture sessions and other human rights violations.
Reported by Luisetta Mudie.
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