China’s High Profile Murder Trial Ends After One Day

One of China’s most high profile trials has come to an end.

The wife of a disgraced Chinese politician went on trial on Thursday for murder.

Gu Kailai is accused of killing a British businessman.

The entire proceedings took eight hours, though there’s no verdict.

Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Weiliang Nie of the BBC’s China service.

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Lisa Mullins: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH in Boston. A high profile murder trial in China began and ended today. The closed door proceedings took just about eight hours. The defendant is Gu Kailai. She is the wife of the once powerful Chinese politician Bo Xilai. Gu Kailai is charged with poisoning a British businessman. His name was Neil Haywood. So far there’s no verdict in the case. Weiliang Nie, a senior producer with the BBC’s China service. Talk if you will about the trial itself. It went eight hours from start to finish. For such a high profile, high intensity trial, is that unusual?

Weiliang Nie: First of all I would like to point out that in China the government does not want this trial to be as high profile as possible. I just had a quick glance of all the major news websites in China and none of them carried the story as the top story. It’s all way down on the list of the stories and it is a clear indication that the government is closely controlling the reporting of the case. As for whether the trial lasts just eight hours, it is quite normal and a verdict is very quick and sometimes is foregone conclusion.

Mullins: You say it’s a foregone conclusion in this case that she will be found guilty? Although we should say that Gu Kailai did not contest the murder charges. What did she say in her defense for the killing of this British businessman, Neil Haywood?

Nie: In the official video clip released by Chinese television there is no voice from Gu Kailai at all and it’s only the TV anchorman doing the reading. So, we have no way of knowing how Gu Kailai reacts to the charges. However, it was alleged that Gu Kailai feared for the safety of her son, [00:02:02], who was at that time studying in the U.K. She kind of felt that Neil Haywood was a threat to the personal safety of her son. That was always the mystery. As a matter of fact there were ample speculation that Gu Kailai and the government may have already made a deal.

Mullins: Weiliang, there is a larger picture here and perhaps you can help us put it in context because the trial comes on the eve of a major leadership transition this fall in China. What are the implications in this trial for the government? Why would they want to keep this case as quiet as possible?

Nie: After the trial people would naturally move their focus to what’s going to happen next to Bo Xilai himself because since this case also involves so many political intrigues and political scandals which would in a way let people see the inside functions of the communist party and the Chinese communist party always wants to project itself the image of a unified party. It doesn’t want the outside world to look at it as a party that is divided, that is involved in serious power struggle within itself. So, what the Chinese communist party is going to do with Bo Xilai before the party congress is something that we are all eager to wait to see.

Mullins: Okay, Weiliang Nie, thank you very much.

Nie: You’re welcome.

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