 |
|
READY FOR TRIAL: Bogu Kailai and Zhang Xiaojun are escorted by marshals to the courtroom (CCTV SCREENSHOT) |
After Wang Lijun, former Vice Mayor of Chongqing and chief of the Public Security Bureau of Chongqing, entered the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu on February 6, without authorization, the Ministry of Public Security looked into his report that Bogu Kailai was suspected of murdering Heywood.
The ministry set up a team to reinvestigate the case in accordance with the law, and found that Heywood had been the victim of homicide. Bogu Kailai and Zhang were then considered prime suspects.
On suspicion of intentional homicide, the two were put under residential surveillance on March 15.
Police, prosecutorial and judicial authorities have taken the facts as the basis and the law as the criterion, and handled the case strictly in accordance with the law throughout the investigation, approval of the arrest, prosecution and the court hearing.
During the investigation, the police formulated a meticulous investigation plan, conducted 394 interrogations of witnesses and people involved in the case and put together 212 evidence documents totaling 1,468 pages in 16 volumes. Investigators visited Chongqing, Beijing and other places repeatedly during the course of the investigation, questioning those involved in the case and people with knowledge about what had happened.
Investigators underwent a meticulous process of collecting, examining, storing and transferring important material evidence, such as the blood extracted from Heywood's heart, the traces of poison and the vomit samples. A substantial amount of evidence had been further obtained and confirmed after three months of scrupulous investigation efforts, including 200 suggested items for further investigation.
After Bogu Kailai was held by investigators for questioning, she first refused to call on a lawyer. In a bid to protect the legitimate rights of a criminal suspect, judicial staff informed her of her right to a lawyer several times.
Bogu Kailai eventually decided on her own to entrust two lawyers to represent her, and Zhang chose to entrust one lawyer to represent him.
To ensure an impartial handling of the case, the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Supreme People's Court designated the Public Security Bureau, the People's Procuratorate and the Intermediate People's Court of Hefei to carry out the investigation, prosecution and trial of the case, respectively.
On July 6, the procuratorate approved the arrest of Bogu Kailai and Zhang for suspicion of intentional homicide.
On July 10, the police transferred the case to the procuratorate for the same charge after concluding the investigation.
On July 26, the procuratorate issued an indictment to the Intermediate People's Court of Hefei.
The trial on August 9 lasted for about seven hours.
When the trial was about to close at 3:10 p.m., Bogu Kailai said in her final statement that she accepted all the facts written in the indictment.
"The case has dealt severe blows to the Party and the country, for which I ought to shoulder the responsibility. I am grateful to the humanitarian care shown to me by those who handled the case. I solemnly tell the court that in order to maintain the dignity of the law, I will calmly accept any sentence and will expect a fair and just court decision," she said.
Zhang said in his final statement that he confessed his guilt, and wished to extend his apologies to the relatives of the victim. "I hope the court can give me a chance to take a new lease on life. I know what I did was wrong."
The court announced that the judgment will be delivered on a day that has yet to be announced.
On August 10, four former police officers in Chongqing also stood trial in Hefei on charges of covering up Bogu Kailai's illegal conduct during the investigation into Heywood's death.
The officers are Guo Weiguo, former deputy chief of Chongqing's Public Security Bureau, Li Yang, former chief of the bureau's criminal section, Wang Pengfei, former chief of the bureau's technical detection team and also former chief of the Public Security Sub-Bureau of Yubei District, and Wang Zhi, former executive deputy chief of the Public Security Sub-Bureau of Shapingba District.
According to the evidence submitted by the prosecutors at the trial of Bogu Kailai, after Heywood was found dead on the morning of November 15, 2011, Guo Weiguo, who has close ties with Bogu Kailai's family, was designated to handle the case by Wang Lijun.
Through interviews and on-the-scene investigations, Guo and other defendants found that Bogu Kailai was highly suspected of committing the crime. They covered up Bogu Kailai's presence at the scene by fabricating interview records, hiding material evidence and other measures.
Guo and the other three decided through consultations to list the official cause of Heywood's death as sudden death after drinking alcohol, and did not put it on file as a criminal case. They also persuaded Heywood's family members to accept their conclusion of the cause of death and cremated the body in Chongqing without performing an autopsy.
The court said that the judgment would be given at a later date.
Email us at: yuanyuan@bjreview.com | 
