Bo Xilai

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Bo Xilai

Bo Xilai ( Chinese  薄熙来 , Pinyin Bó Xīlái ; born July 3, 1949 in Dingxiang , Shanxi ) is a Chinese politician and former member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China .

Life

Origin and advancement

Bo Xilai with US politician Carlos Gutierrez (2007)

Bo Xilai is the son of long-time Vice Prime Minister and Politburo member Bo Yibo , who, like Deng Xiaoping, was one of the so-called " Eight Immortals ".

Bo was mayor of Dalian City from 1993 to 2000 , vice governor until 2001, and then governor of Liaoning Province from 2001 to 2004 . From 2004 to 2007, Bo was Minister of Commerce of the People's Republic of China . From November 2007 to March 2012, he was the party leader in the sub-government city of Chongqing .

Bo was seen as a representative and bearer of hope for the party's left wing. He strove for a return to the Mao Zedong era and fought against an expansion of the market economy orientation of the party leadership. His methods in the fight against corruption in Chongqing, some of which were viewed by the Chinese left as a model worth emulating, also included undermining the separation of powers, exerting direct influence on the courts and public “campaigns” based on the practices of the Cultural Revolution .

Deposition

Bo Xilai was dismissed from his post on March 15, 2012, and was replaced by Vice Prime Minister Zhang Dejiang . On April 10, his membership of the Chinese Communist Party's Politburo was suspended. His dismissal was seen as a signal of an internal party power struggle in which the proponents of a market-oriented course had prevailed against the orthodox-socialist Bo. In addition, investigations into "serious disciplinary offenses" against Bo were initiated.

According to the New York Times , Bo operated an extensive wiretapping system prior to his dismissal. So he let the phones of almost all top politicians who visited Chongqing be tapped. Conversations by President Hu Jintao are also said to have been overheard.

Bo was expelled from the party in absentia at a special session of the Communist Party Politburo held on September 28, 2012 , attended by 24 party leaders. At the same time, he lost his civil service status and was handed over to the court for criminal conviction. The Central Committee confirmed Bo's expulsion from the party on November 4, 2012.

His wife was convicted of murder

Bo Xilai is married to Gu Kailai, the youngest daughter of a general in the People's Liberation Army , whom he met in 1984 in Dalian , where he was party secretary. The lawyer founded her own law firm and has taken on prestigious international cases. Simultaneously with her husband's disempowerment, Gu Kailai and a personal guardian were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the death of British businessman Neil Heywood in November 2011. On July 26, 2012, prosecutors brought charges of murder. Gu Kailai is said to have poisoned Heywood, along with Zhang Xiaojun, who was also accused. She and her son reportedly got into an argument with Heywood over business issues. The trial, held in Hefei , resulted in a guilty verdict on August 20, 2012, and Gu Kailai was sentenced to the conditional death penalty for murder. Usually a conditional death sentence is converted to life imprisonment after a few years.

Trial of Bo Xilai

After a preliminary hearing on August 14, 2013, the actual trial of Bo Xilai began on August 22, 2013 in the Jinan Intermediate People's Court . He was accused of bribery and corruption as well as abuse of power. Bo is said to have received 1.1 million yuan (approx. 140,000 euros) during his time as mayor of Dalian from Tang Xiao Ling, the head of Dalian International Development Ltd. assumed a sum of 21,790,587 million yuan (about 2.75 million euros) from 2000 to 2012 from entrepreneur Xu Ming, president of the Dalian Shide football club . From January to February 2012 he used his position as party leader and governor of Chongqing to obstruct the investigation into the murder of Neil Heywood. After five days of negotiations, the process ended on August 26, 2013. On September 22, 2013, Bo Xilai was sentenced in the first instance to life imprisonment for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of office. His property was confiscated and his political rights revoked. He appealed the verdict, which was dismissed by the High Court of east China's Shandong Province on October 25, 2013.

See also

Web links

Commons : Bo Xilai  - collection of images, videos and audio files
 Wikinews: Bo Xilai  - on the news

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Red Star of China has crashed . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. March 15, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  2. ↑ Red songs in China . Le monde diplomatique. September 9, 2011. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  3. ↑ China's top politician Bo Xilai deposed . The New Zurich Times. March 15, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  4. ↑ Bo Xilai kicked out of the Politburo . tagesschau.de. April 10, 2012. Archived from the original on April 12, 2012. Retrieved on November 5, 2012.
  5. ↑ Almost like Mao . Time online. March 25, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  6. ↑ Top Chinese politician deposed . Time online. March 15, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  7. ↑ Newspaper: Removal of Bo Xilai's "Lucky Fall" . ORF.at. April 16, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  8. ↑ Bo Xilai spied on senior officials, according to the US newspaper . ORF.at. April 26, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  9. ↑ Communist Party excludes Bo Xilai . World online. September 28, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  10. ↑ CP Conclave throws Bo Xilai out of the party . Mirror online. November 4, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  11. ↑ Gu Kailai: the "Jackie Kennedy of China" . The New Zurich Times. August 20, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  12. ^ Functionary Bo suspended from the Politburo . taz.de. April 11, 2004. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  13. ↑ China's party scandal spreads . The New Zurich Times. April 12, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  14. ↑ Bo Xilai's wife charged with murder . The New Zurich Times. July 26, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  15. ↑ Conditional death penalty against politician's wife . The New Zurich Times. August 20, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  16. ↑ Zand, Bernhard: Trial against Bo Xilai: "1.1 million - and you call that bribery?" at Spiegel Online , August 22, 2013 (accessed August 22, 2013).
  17. ^ Spiegel Online - Beijing: Life sentence for China's ex-politician Bo Xilai . 22nd September 2013
  18. ↑ german.china.org.cn - Judgment in the corruption trial against Bo Xilai announced , September 22, 2013
  19. ↑ Chinese political star: Bo Xilai fights against life imprisonment Spiegel Online, September 23, 2013, accessed on the same day.
  20. ↑ Bo Xilai has to go to prison Neue Zürcher Zeitung, October 25, 2013
Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Bo is the family name here, Xilai is the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Bo, Xilai
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 薄熙来 (Chinese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chinese politician
DATE OF BIRTH July 3, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Dingxiang , Shanxi