Bo Xilai Wife Charged in Poisoning Death of U.K Businessman
By Bloomberg News - Jul 26, 2012 7:39 AM ET
Gu Kailai, the wife of suspended Politburo member Bo Xilai, was charged with poisoning a British businessman, a killing that led to the downfall of one of China’s most powerful politicians.
Gu, once a well-known lawyer, was charged with “intentional homicide” in Neil Heywood’s death, the official Xinhua News Agency said today. An orderly in the family home, Zhang Xiaojun, was also charged, the report said.
“The facts are clear and the evidence is firm and adequate,” Xinhua said. Gu and her son had a financial conflict with Heywood, which led her to believe he was a threat to her son’s safety, Xinhua said.
The prosecution pushes forward the Chinese Communist Party’s case against Bo, whose ouster was the most serious upheaval in the country’s top ranks since Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang was purged in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
Bo was removed as Chongqing party secretary in March, and in April was suspended from the Politburo and accused of serious violations of Communist Party discipline after the allegations about his wife were revealed. He hasn’t been seen in public since the National People’s Congress in March.
Prosecutors interrogated Gu and Zhang, and “heard the opinions of the defense team,” Xinhua said. A trial will be held at at an undecided date, it said.
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