Bo Xilai Corruption Trial Begins In China

Disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai has gone on trial accused of abuse of power and netting more than (£2.5m) in bribery and embezzlement.

Once the powerful party boss in the megacity of Chongqing, the charismatic Bo became the most senior leader to fall from power in years after revelations emerged last year that his wife had killed a British businessman.

Bo entered the courthouse in the eastern city of Jinan under police escort with nearby roads sealed off with red and yellow barriers.

Some of his supporters gathered outside the perimeter shouting "He served the people!" and "He was a good cadre!"

Police at the courthouse in Jinan

The Weibo account of Jinan Intermediate People's Court released the first pictures of him in front of the judge flanked by two police officers.

It also quoted Bo, who said: "I hope the judge will try this case fairly and reasonably, and try this problem according to our country's lawful process."

Weibo is the Chinese version of Twitter and has over 500 million users in the country.

Supporters behind the barriers at the courthouse

This measure, unseen in previous high level court cases in China, was understood to be an attempt by the authorities to make proceedings more transparent.

The scandal was triggered last year when Bo's police chief, a top aide, fled to a US consulate in a neighbouring city, an event that embarrassed the party's leadership ahead of a key political transition.

It would later emerge that the police chief had evidence of the Briton's murder, making the Bo family an international diplomatic liability for the leadership.

Prosecutors accused Bo of accepting bribes amounting to more than 20 million yuan (£2.1m) when he was posted to the eastern city of Dalian from 1999 to 2012.

Gu Kailai and Neil Heywood

He also was accused of embezzling five million yuan (£526,000) from a public construction project in a transaction that also involved his wife.

Bo denies a charge of accepting a bribe of 1.1 million yuan (£115,000) from Tang Xiaolin, General Manager of Dalian International Development Corporation - a company directly associated with Dalian government when Bo was the mayor and Party Secretary of the city.

He is additionally charged with abuse of power related to his alleged attempts in Chongqing to block an investigation into Mr Heywood's murder in late 2011, the court said.

A verdict of guilt is all but assured, because the outcome of such trials involving high-profile politicians in China are usually decided by backroom negotiations by politicians and handed down by the court.

Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, confessed to killing Neil Heywood and was handed a suspended death sentence last year that will likely be commuted to life imprisonment.

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