Editor’s note: This article was first published in September 2013 and describes events of 22 September, the day Bo Xilai was sentenced; the ongoing investigations and possible new arrests it mentions refer to that moment.
A Chinese court has sentenced Bo Xilai, a former Communist Party chief, to life in prison after finding him guilty on all the charges he faced: corruption, taking bribes and abuse of power. In Europe we may think the sentence is excessive, but in China you could say Bo Xilai has been very lucky, since crimes of this kind usually end in a death sentence, as already happened with the “Chinese Madoff”.
The sentence also includes the seizure of all of Bo’s financial assets, as well as the confiscation of some of his family’s property, and he loses all his political rights for life.
Fortunately for him, the Chinese court showed favouritism because he is China’s so-called “princeling”, a member of one of the most prominent Chinese elite circles and the son of one of the so-called “Eight Immortals”. That is why he escaped the death penalty.
Ironically, the court was only able to prove that Bo had received 3.5 million dollars in bribes from local businessmen. We say ironically because in Spain Bo would be an amateur at bribery next to our professional crooks.
China is now continuing to investigate the Communist Party to which Bo belonged, and new arrests and further seizures of political leaders’ assets cannot be ruled out. Many businessmen who gave money to the party in exchange for… will also have to answer to the courts.
China probably has the harshest judicial system on the planet, especially when it comes to cases of political or banking corruption, although it remains a dictatorship where anyone who fights for press freedom is silenced or arrested.
See also: 14 crazy things that only happen in China
Featured image: © European Union, 2005, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
.jpg){kind=link}