Bo has turned the courtroom into a stage of his own

THE CASE OF former Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai went to trial yesterday (August 22) in Jinan. Thanks to its nature and what it implies, the trial has been surrounded by the fiercest blaze of publicity since the trials of the "Gang of Four" 33 years ago. Bo is accused of taking about 27 million yuan in bribes when serving in Dalian, in Liaoning, and as Commerce Minister. Let's look at the case in money terms. Bo was a powerful local official and a minister of the central government. But, as the indictment alleges, what he accepted in bribes amounted to no more than 27 million yuan. Over the years many other local officials on the mainland have been charged with corruption, and the bribes they were said to have accepted easily ran into tens - or even hundreds - of millions of yuan. Liu Zhijun, a former Minister of Railways, accepted bribes totalling more than 60 million yuan. Given the "meagre" amount of money Bo has accepted, even if he is convicted on corruption charges, he is not particularly abominable from the perspective of mainland officials and citizens. So far the Bo Xilai affair has been full of mystery,drama and political implications. It started with Bo's falling-out with Wang Lijun, his trusted lieutenant. In a bid to save his own life, Wang fled to the US Consulate General in Chengdu, bringing to light the murder by poison of Neil Heywood, a British businessman, committed by Bo's wife Gu Kailai.Right from the beginning, Bo's case has not been an ordinary one of corruption or abuse of power.The crackdown on organised crime and the "red campaign" he led during his Chongqing tenure are rumoured to have made him at odds with the central government ideologically. It is the politics surrounding the case that has captured all the attention. Indeed last year, at a press conference held after the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference sessions had ended, Wen Jiabao, who was then Premier,mentioned the Wang Lijun case and criticised the party secretary of Chongqing when answering reporters' questions. Bo was soon relieved of his posts and put under investigation. That very day,Wen also said that the central government had already come to a conclusion on the Cultural Revolution, adding that the tragedy would recur unless the political structure was reformed. Back then people didn't know what he was talking about.Only after the central government took action against Bo Xilai did people know that Wen's comments had not been made aimlessly. The case of Bo is infused with political implications. However, the central government is treating it as an ordinary criminal case. Maybe it wants to depoliticise the case to avoid controversy.But this has in effect given Bo an advantage, as evidenced by his withdrawal of his confession on the first day of his trial. At yesterday's trial, Bo, denying the charges in strong terms and making an unrestrained rebuttal of the witness testimonies, was obviously on the offensive. His trial will be anything but mundane if he keeps up such a performance. But Bo's show will also put the court to a severe test. And, as can be seen from the first day of Bo's trial, the courtroomhas become a stage for him to make a counterattack. It is hard to tell what will happen in his trial. But there is an interesting question to consider: Is Bo behaving just as the authorities have expected? 英語社評聲檔english.mingpao.com/critic.htm 薄熙來翻供法庭成為他的反撲舞台 重慶前市委書記薄熙來涉案在濟南審訊，存倉就性質與影響而言，可視為繼33 年前審判四人幫以來，最矚目的一場審判。 起訴書指薄熙來的受賄、貪污罪嫌，涉及約2700萬元人民幣（下同），與他利用擔任大連、遼寧省任職與商務部長等職務有關，從數額上，由地方大員到部長，薄熙來涉及的受賄貪污金額只有不到2700 萬元，與內地揭發的官員貪污案相比，地方官員貪污動輒數千萬以至億元計，原鐵道部長劉志軍貪污超過6000 萬元，則薄熙來涉及的那一點錢，以內地官場與一般民眾的同理心，他即使被判受賄貪污罪成，也並非可惡的大貪官。 薄熙來案件充滿神秘、戲劇性和政治意涵。案件由薄熙來與親信王立軍反目而起，王為保命，叛逃成都美國總領事館，進而揭發薄熙來妻子谷開來毒殺英國人海伍德，所以，案件甫開始就不是一般普通受賄貪污以至濫用職權的刑案，特別是薄熙來在重慶「唱紅打黑」所引發路線爭議，坊間傳聞他與中央有扞格，事態顯露的政治元素吸引�各方目光。 去年兩會之後的中外記者會，時任總理的溫家寶在回答提問時，提到王立軍事件和批評重慶市委，隨後，薄熙來即被撤職查辦，當日，溫家寶還提到中央對文革已經作出總結，又表示「政治體制不改革，文革悲劇有可能重演」，起初，人們不知道意何所指，到中央處理薄熙來之後，才知曉溫家寶是有的放矢。 薄熙來的案件本就充滿政治意涵，現在卻以一般刑案處理，當局的考慮或許把事態與政治切割，以免引起爭議，但是當局隱沒案件的政治意涵之後，客觀上對薄熙來有利。從首日審訊所見，他在庭上翻供，就突顯這一點。 昨日庭審，薄熙來反駁控罪的措辭、對證人供辭毫不掩飾地批駁，進攻意識濃烈，若他持續這樣表現，往後的審訊大概會高潮迭起。不過，薄熙來的表現，對主持審訊人員將是極大考驗，只是，從案件開審所見，法庭已經成為薄熙來的舞台，審訊中會發生什麼事，已經很難預計。薄熙來利用審訊的機會反撲，對此，當局預計之內抑或預計之外，是一個有趣問題。