MillenniumPost
World

Chinese ex-top cop gets 15 years jail term

A Chinese police chief, whose defection to US Consulate sparked biggest political scandal here, was sentenced to 15 years in jail on Monday, paving the way for the prosecution of fallen politician Bo Xilai, ahead of a generational power transfer in the ruling Communist party.

The Intermediate People’s Court in southwest China’s Sichuan province convicted Bo’s right-hand man Wang Lijun, 52, the former vice mayor and police chief of Chongqing city for misuse of power, defection and corruption and sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

The court also cancelled his political rights for an year, but gave him a lighter sentence than the 20 years proposed by the prosecution in view of his exposing the involvement of Gu Kailai, wife of disgraced Communist Party leader Bo, in the murder of British businessman, Neil Heywood.

Wang sought asylum in the US consulate in Chengdu in February, triggering a political crisis that saw Bo sacked and his wife charged with murder ahead of a transfer of power to a new generation of leaders in China’s ruling Communist Party.

The scandal, the messiest, faced by the Communist party leadership triggered an intense jostling in the party, ruling the world’s most populous nation since 1949.

The case ended the career of senior Communist Party leader Bo Xilai, who was in the running for top position in the nine-member standing committee of the central committee of the CPC. It was not immediately clear if Bo who was named by Wang in his deposition would be hauled up. [PTI]
Next Story
Share it