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Bo saga draws to close as China court upholds life term

The appeal was considered in a “closed hearing” earlier this month without Bo present, a lawyer with direct knowledge of the case told AFP, adding that Friday’s announcement “will be the final verdict. After that, the process is over.”

According to Chinese law, Bo will not be able to lodge any further formal appeals, and while he can submit a “petition” to China’s supreme court, it is not required to take further action.

Bo’s spectacular downfall exposed infighting within the Communist Party ahead of a once in a decade transition of power, and analysts have said the verdict against him was decided as a result of backroom bargaining within the party elite – some of whom are still thought to be allies of his.

“This was a political case, the life sentence verdict was decided by an agreement among the leadership, and not by the court,” Willy Lam, a prominent China watcher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told AFP.

Chinese President Xi Jinping “used this very heavy sentence to serve a warning not to challenge the leadership”, he said.

Bo still enjoyed some support among high-ranking members of the Communist party, said Zhang Ming, a professor at Renmin University in Beijing, but added: “His supporters will express their views quietly and not in public.

“The verdict was entirely expected… it brings the matter to a close.”

Bo, whose father was one of Communist China’s “Eight Immortals”, its most prominent revolutionary leaders, was ousted last year after a lurid scandal that saw his wife convicted of the murder of a British businessman.

Bo’s trial in August revealed a lifestyle far in excess of what Communist Party officials on modest salaries should be able to afford, with evidence of bribes from rich businessmen, including a close associate who bought his family a villa in France.

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His defiance over the course of the hearings astonished a public unfamiliar with the open airing of top-level intrigue and was in stark contrast to previous Chinese political trials, in which most defendants have humbly confessed their crimes in opaque court proceedings.

Bo’s populist policies in Chongqing won him supporters across China, but his openly ambitious approach also alienated other top party leaders, who saw it as harking back to a bygone era of strongman rule.

The decision comes as the party attempts to show it is cracking down on corruption and government waste.

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