BEIJING: Ousted and scandal-tainted politician Bo Xilai was given a life sentence by a Chinese court on Sunday. He escaped being awarded a death sentence or suspended death sentence, which has been given to his wife Gu Kailai.
Reading its verdict after trying him on charges of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power, the Jinan court said Bo will be deprived of his political rights for life.
The court allowed him the privilege of appealing against the judgment to a higher court within the next 10 days.
The decision on life imprisonment might also end Bo's brand of pro-Maoist populism, which shook the Communist Party and attracted admirers and distracters in equal numbers. He was Communist Party chief in Chongqing city and a rising star before his fall after a murder investigation against his wife came to light.
In the court, Bo said he believed his wife's claim that she was not responsible for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood but did not want to stifle the investigations. Gu has been given a suspended death sentence while Wang Lijun, the then police chief of Chongqing, is serving a lengthy jail sentence for not investigating the entire case properly.
The official media carried reports suggesting he would challenge the verdict at the higher court in east China's Shandong province, where Jinan is located.
An appeal will reopen the public debate on Bo's role in China's corrupt political system, and give him another opportunity to seek popularity, observers said.
The judges rejected his plea of 'not guilty' on the charges of bribery saying he had taken bribes totaling 20.44 million yuan ($3.3 million), either directly or through his family members, between 1999 and 2012.
Bo was tipped to become a member of China's highest political body, the politburo standing committee, before his fall from grace.
He earlier served as mayor of Dalian in northeast Liaoning province, as governor of Liaoning and Commerce Minister at the central government in Beijing.
During the trial, his wife Gu Kailai attested to the prosecutor's charges of corruption while Wang provided evidence against him.
Bo described his wife as a "roving mad woman" and said that Wang Lijun was a liar and a manipulator.
The scandal came to light after Wang escaped to the US consulate in Chengdu, saying he feared that Bo would harm him. Wang's escape revealed the corrupt underbelly in the Chinese political system and caused a lot of embarrassment to the Communist Party besides exposing murky details about how Gu Kailai used poison to kill Heywood.
One of the main charges of bribery came from a general manager of Dalian International Development Company Limited. This official, Tang Xiaolin, told the court he bribed the Bo family with cash and expensive vacation arrangements in order to obtain official quotas and licences for importing cars in 2000.
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