UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT: Bo Xilai (center, front) appears in court on August 26 (XIE HUANCHI)

Bo Xilai, former Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), went on trial on August 22-26, after an 18-month absence from public appearances since March 2012.

Bo, 64, has been charged with bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power. He was expelled from the CPC and public office last September.

Before Bo's trial, his wife Bogu Kailai and Wang Lijun, former Vice Mayor and police chief of Chongqing, were both put on trial and convicted in August and September 2012, respectively. Bogu Kailai was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for intentional homicide and Wang was sentenced to 15 years in prison for manipulation of the law for self-gain as well as defection, abuse of power and bribe taking. They both confessed to the crimes they had been charged with and offered testimonies outlining the scale of Bo's involvement.

A long trial

Bo's trial began at the Jinan Intermediate People's Court in east China's Shandong Province.

According to the indictment, from 1999 to 2012, while serving as mayor of Dalian City in northeast China's Liaoning Province, secretary of CPC Dalian Committee, governor of Liaoning and minister of commerce, Bo accepted bribes totaling an estimated 21.8 million yuan ($3.56 million) from two business people, Tang Xiaolin, General Manager of Dalian International Development Co. Ltd., and Xu Ming, Chairman of Dalian Shide Group Co. Ltd, in exchange for providing help in the obtainment of the preferential quotas necessary to import cars and work on petrochemical projects.

The indictment also stated that in January and February 2012, while serving as Party chief of Chongqing, Bo abused his power in order to help Bogu Kailai when she was suspected of murdering British national Neil Heywood, and also abused it further when Wang Lijun defected.

Further abuses of power included impeding the reinvestigation of Bogu Kailai's case and approving the release of false news that Wang was receiving "vacation-style treatment."

Prosecutors displayed documented evidence and brought witnesses to testimony, together with sharing video and audio records of the witness' examinations.

During the trial, key witnesses, including Xu Ming, Wang Zhenggang, former head of the Dalian Municipal Bureau of Urban and Rural Planning and Land, and Wang Lijun, appeared to testify in court.

The prosecution and defense cross-examined the witnesses and gave their views on the evidence presented.

Bo did not acknowledge the charges against him. He frequently defended himself by saying the evidence was "irrelevant" or that he had only a vague impression of the events, but failed to offer evidence that could be used to refute the accusations during his defense.

Before the trial, Bo made a handwritten testimony confessing that he had in fact accepted money from Tang Xiaolin.

While in court, Bo claimed that he was put under pressure when writing his confession and raised the question of whether or not the testimonies from witnesses called against him had been made under similar conditions. His defense team asserted that his handwritten confession contradicted Bo's claims in court and that it was false. They put forward the claim that the confession should be excluded as illegal.

Prosecutors said that the evidence presented in court was authentic and obtained legally from the sources used and that the evidence brought to light across the duration of the investigation was enough to identify the defendant's conduct as being criminal. According to prosecutors, Bo had written the confession alone and nobody was in his presence at the time of writing.

The court investigation phase lasted for a total of four days and concluded on August 25.

On August 26, prosecutors summarized their case and demanded a heavy sentence for Bo.

They said that the evidence presented and cross-examinations both demonstrated clearly the true nature of Bo's conduct and that the evidence was sufficient to charge him with the crimes. They also pointed out that the investigation and conclusions were based on evidence presented and that any attempts to deny the crimes were in vain.

In response, Bo made a 90-minute statement denying the charges. He insisted that he was not aware of or involved in any of the crimes, and he questioned the credibility of the witness testimonies. His defense team expressed their opinions concerning the motives of the defendant, the credibility of evidence and validity of collection.

"The court will carefully and comprehensively review the evidence in order to fully consider the case from both sides and make a judgment based on the facts presented and the law," said a court spokesman after the trial.

The verdict will be announced at a date yet to be decided.