This Sept. 18, 2012 video image taken from CCTV shows Wang Lijun speaking during his trial at the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan province. A Chinese court will announce a verdict Monday, Sept. 24, 2012 for the ex-police chief at the center of a seamy political scandal that has buffeted China’s leadership.CHENGDU, China – The Chinese police chief whose thwarted defection exposed murder and infighting in high places was sentenced to 15 years in prison Monday, setting the stage for China’s leadership to close out the divisive scandal and move ahead with a generational handover of power.
Amid heavy security, the Intermediate People’s Court in the central city of Chengdu sentenced Wang Lijun after convicting him of defecting, abuse of power, taking bribes and other crimes to which he confessed at his trial last week. Wang told the court he will not appeal, said his lawyer.
The sentence is lighter than the 20-year prison term suggested in sentencing guidelines. The court noted Wang’s cooperation in exposing the crimes of others, especially the central element in the scandal – the murder of a British businessman by the wife of Wang’s former boss, once political high-flier Bo Xilai.
The scandal has been the messiest, most public one Communist Party leaders have had to confront in decades, triggering bruising internal jostling as the leadership prepares to transfer power to a younger generation. In the scandal’s wake, Bo was removed from the leadership, his wife confessed to the murder and relations among the leaders were strained. As a result, arrangements for a party congress to install the new leadership this fall grew complicated.
After Wang’s sentencing, the leadership is expected to announce long-overdue dates for the congress and dispose of the scandal’s stickiest issue – whether merely to expel Bo from the party or hand him over for criminal prosecution. Pronouncing judgment on Bo will allow the new leaders to take charge without the scandal’s overhang.