Bo Xilai defiant as trial begins

Fallen politician Bo Xilai put up a feisty defence on Thursday as he faced China's most political trial in decades, saying he was framed in one of the bribery charges against him and had admitted to it against his will during interrogation.
The 64-year-old former Communist Party chief of the southwestern city of Chongqing has been charged with illegally taking almost 27 million yuan ($4.41 million), corruption and abuse of power and will almost certainly be found guilty.
Bo's denial of one of the charges and strong language as he made his first public appearance since being ousted early last year were unexpected. But observers said he could have struck a deal with authorities to show he was getting a fair trial in exchange for a pre-arranged sentence.
President Xi Jinping is seeking unstinted support from the party as he seeks to push reforms that will rebalance the economy, and will want Bo's trial to be finished quickly and with a minimum of fuss.
"He (Bo) is clearly going along with this trial," said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch. "The outcome has been already decided. There's probably an agreement already between Bo and the party as to what the outcome will be."
Bo's downfall has pitted supporters of his Maoist-themed egalitarian social programmes against the capitalist-leaning economic road taken by the leadership in Beijing, exposing divisions within the ruling party as well as Chinese society.
Bo was one of China's rising political stars and his trial in the eastern city of Jinan marks the culmination of the country's biggest political scandal since the 1976 downfall of the Gang of Four at the end of the Cultural Revolution.
Appearing sombre, a clean-shaven Bo, whose hair looked like it was still dyed black, stood in the dock without handcuffs, according to television pictures. He was dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt and stood with his hands crossed in front of him, flanked by two policemen.
Foreign media were not allowed to attend the trial and Bo's remarks were carried on the court's official microblog, so are likely to have been highly edited. Still, the transcripts provided by the court mark a level of openness that is unprecedented for a trial in China.
Nonetheless Bo's refusal to admit the charges contrasted with previous political cases in China including those of both Gu and Bo's former police chief Wang Lijun, who confessed at their trials last year.