Politics reign in orchestrated China murder trial
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A file photo dated July 30 of Gu Kailai, ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai's wife, accused of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood, with her portrait on a cover of a book displayed at a book shop in Hong Kong. Gu goes on trial on Thursday on charges of murdering a British businessman in a politically charged case that may have little to do with whether she really killed him. -- PHOTO: AP
HEFEI, China (AP) - The wife of a fallen Chinese leader goes on trial on Thursday on charges of murdering a British businessman in a politically charged case that may have little to do with whether she really killed him.
Instead, the trial of Bo Xilai's wife, Gu Kailai, is seen largely as a tightly managed way for the leadership to cauterise a political scandal that has embarrassed the Communist Party.
"The men at the top have already made their decisions, and in conspicuous political trials like this, that's where the decision is made," said Dr Perry Link, a Princeton University emeritus professor of East Asian studies.
"So the trial, whatever the results and whatever the arguments, it will be theatre, just theatre."
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