Gu Kailai, the wife of a recently ousted top official in China’s Communist Party, raised no objections to the prosecution’s charges in court on Thursday that she and a family aide poisoned British businessman Neil Haywood last year, according to a court official. Tang Yigan, deputy head of the Hefei Intermediate People’s Court, said the closely observed trial took place on Thursday under tight security in the eastern city of Hefei, and adjourned in the afternoon without the announcement of a verdict.
Without any specific date at hand, Tang said the hearing phase of the trial is over, and the verdict will be delivered at a later date after deliberations. The trial is the latest phase is the down spiral of the prominent family of Bo Xilai, Gu’s husband and next in line as one of China’s most powerful figures in the ruling party. Gu and family aide Zhang Xiaojun, are accused of poisoning Heywood, 41, who was found dead in November in the southwestern Chinese metro area of Chongqing, the city where Bo was the chief of China’s Communist Party. The murder scandal has exposed inside conflict in China’s most powerful group and affirmed an already skeptical view about corrupt dealings in the Communist Party.
