- Former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun's trial started Monday
- He attempted in February to seek aslyum in U.S., triggering crisis
- Wang faces allegations of four offenses including defection and bribe-taking
- Wang was considered right-hand man of politician Bo Xilai
Beijing (CNN) -- Evidence is being heard in the defection trial of a Chinese police chief who famously sought refuge in a U.S. consulate in one of the country's biggest political scandals in decades.
The trial of Wang Lijun began Monday in secret in Chengdu Intermediate People's Court, due to sensitive nature of material being heard.
The open, public trial starts Tuesday and will not include evidence that compromises national security and state secrets.
Wang, 52, faces four alleged offences, including defection and bribe-taking, the latter of which could lead to the death penalty based on the amount involved and the seriousness of the case.
Bo Xilai's wife on trial Until February, Wang was a right-hand man of disgraced politician Bo Xilai, once considered among Communist royalty and a fast-rising star within the party destined for the highest office of the country.
China's Jackie O Stands By Her Man After being suddenly dismissed as police chief, Wang spectacularly sought refuge for one day inside the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, apparently fearing for his life and allegedly holding incriminating information against his boss.
Bo Xilai's son responds Bo's wife poisoned and killed Neil Heywood, a British businessman and Bo family friend, last November amid a financial dispute. Gu Kailai, Bo's wife, was convicted of murder last month and received a suspended death sentence.
Timeline: Bo Xilai's downfall Four high-ranking police officers who once worked under Wang were convicted of covering up the Heywood murder -- a crime Wang was also accused of in the indictment cited by Xinhua -- and received prison sentences ranging from five to 11 years. Another former top deputy of Wang was recently arrested and accused of taking bribes.
As for Bo, the government announced in April that he was stripped of his leadership positions for "serious breach of party discipline." He has not been seen publicly since.
Wang headed the police department of Chongqing, a sprawling southwestern metropolis with more than 30 million residents, during most of the period when Bo was the local party chief from late 2007 to early this year.
Prosecutors in Chengdu, in southwestern China, announced charges against Wang on September 5. They also accused him of abusing his power and covering up a high-profile murder case, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Wang's indictment quoted by Xinhua did not mention Bo, but prosecutors alleged that the former police official "illegally used technical surveillance measures." Analysts say the accusation may reflect rumors that Wang had bugged other senior officials to benefit Bo politically.
Bo, 63, a charismatic albeit controversial politician, launched a "smashing black, singing red" campaign in Chongqing that promoted Communist ideology as zealously as it cracked down on organized crime.
His economic programs, which included millions spent on social welfare, made him a popular leader in Chongqing. But analysts say his populist policies and high-profile personal style were seen as a challenge to the more economically liberal and reform-oriented faction that dominated the current party leadership.
Bo and Wang were known to have worked closely on Bo's signature crime-fighting program in 2009. In just 10 months, Chongqing police arrested almost 5,000 people and executed more than a dozen.
Wang was taken into custody once he left the consulate for entering the diplomatic post without authorization. Analysts say his gambit forced China to deal with the scandal with an unprecedented level of transparency, prodded along by social media.
It is now rumored that the 18th Communist Party Congress, a meeting where a new generation of leaders is expected to be unveiled, will be held in the middle of next month. The current leadership under President Hu Jintao is trying to resolve the Bo affair before its once-in-a-decade power transition, according to Joseph Fewsmith, an international relations professor at Boston University and a longtime China watcher.
"There was a desire on the part of the Chinese Communist Party to get this case settled," he said. "It's not yet, but it is out of the party and into the hands of criminal courts -- well before the 18th Party Congress."
The conviction rate for criminal trials in China stood at 99.9% in 2010, a U.S. State Department report quoted the Chinese Supreme People's Court as saying.
18 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/17/world/asia/china-wang-trial-starts/index.html?eref=edition
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