21:47
Tieng Anh Vui
The trial of former top Chinese politician Bo Xilai has entered its third day.
Mr Bo is expected to cross-examine a witness who testified that he embezzled funds from a government project in Dalian, the city where he was mayor.
The court in the eastern city of Jinan has been posting regular updates on China's micro-blogging site Weibo.
Mr Bo, who used to be the Communist Party chief in Chongqing, denies bribery, corruption and abuse of power.
A BBC correspondent says that despite the eloquence of his defence, Mr Bo is expected to be found guilty on charges of corruption and abuse of office.
Mr Bo's family was one of the most elite in China and correspondents say the scandals involving him have captivated the country.
As trial resumed on Saturday, Wang Zhenggang, former urban planning director of Dalian, continued to give testimony on the charge of embezzlement against Mr Bo, Xinhua news agency reported.
Mr Bo is accused of receiving bribes totalling 21.8m yuan ($3.56m; £2.28m) from businessmen Tang Xiaolin and Xu Ming and embezzling 5m yuan ($800,000; £524,000) in public funds from the Dalian government.
Foreign media banned
On the second day of the trial, Mr Bo dismissed testimony from his wife, Gu Kailai, that implicated him in corruption. He claimed she was insane.
She had said that wealthy Chinese entrepreneur Xu Ming bought gifts for the family in order to gain favours.
Gu Kailai was herself convicted last year of the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Video footage and written testimony from Mr Bo's wife was posted on the court's official microblog.
In it Gu Kailai said she felt Neil Heywood had posed a threat to her son, Bo Guagua.
But Mr Bo dismissed her testimony, reportedly saying: "In her unstable mental state, prosecutors put pressure on her so she would turn on me."
Foreign media are not allowed into the trial which is taking place in the city of Jinan in Shandong province.
Mr Bo's downfall was seen as the biggest political shake-up to hit China's ruling elite in decades.
In February 2012 his police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to the US consulate in Chengdu amid an apparent fall-out with Mr Bo.
Shortly afterwards, Chinese authorities announced that they were reinvestigating the death of Mr Heywood, who died in a Chongqing hotel in November 2011.
Gu Kailai has since been jailed for the murder of Mr Heywood - a crime she carried out, state media say, because of differences over a business deal.
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Neil Heywood
Bo Xilai
Gu Kailai
Bo Guagua
Wang Lijun
Patrick Devillers
Jiang Feng Dolby
Dalian
Chongqing
French villa
Bo Xilai
Former Communist Party chief of Chongqing and Politburo member
Mr Bo, the son of a famous Communist Party hero, was once a political high-flyer and described as the nearest China had to a Western-style politician. He ran the coastal city of Dalian and was commerce minister before becoming Party chief of south-western metropolis of Chongqing. He was removed from office following Neil Heywood’s death and was charged with bribery, corruption and abuse of power.
Gu Kailai
Lawyer and wife of Bo Xilai
Ms Gu, whose father was a prominent revolutionary general, is a well-known lawyer and second wife of Bo Xilai.
She studied at Peking University before opening the Kailai law firm in Beijing. Fluent in English, she and her husband were once one of China's most powerful couples. Last year, she was convicted of Mr Heywood's murder, reportedly over a deal gone wrong, and given a suspended death sentence.
Bo Guagua
Son of Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai
Educated at the exclusive British private school Harrow, followed by Oxford and Harvard Universities, Bo Guagua has been described as one of China's "princelings" - the descendants of revolutionary leaders often criticised for their lavish lifestyles. Since his parents’ fall, Bo Guagua has remained in the US, where he is preparing to study law at Colombia University in New York. In a statement issued ahead of Mr Bo’s trial, Bo Guagua said he hoped his father would be allowed to defend himself "without constraints".
Wang Lijun
Former Chongqing police chief
Mr Wang, once a popular police chief and Bo Xilai’s deputy in Chongqing, began his career in law enforcement in the Inner Mongolia region before moving to Chongqing in 2008. He worked closely with Mr Bo but, after an apparent falling out, Mr Wang fled to the US consulate in Chengdu, near Chongqing, where he raised concerns about the circumstances of Neil Heywood’s death. Mr Wang has since been jailed for 15 years, charged with defection, power abuse and bribe-taking.
Patrick Devillers
French architect
Mr Devillers is believed to have met Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai in the 1990s while living in Dalian and reportedly helped design street grids in the port city while Mr Bo was mayor. French documents quoted by the Wall Street Journal and New York Times said he also oversaw the running of a villa in the South of France - allegedly belonging to Mr Bo - between 2001 to 2007. He was detained in Cambodia, where he lives, before voluntarily flying to China in July 2012. Reports say Chinese authorities wanted to talk to him as a witness in the Neil Heywood case.
Jiang Feng Dolby
Television presenter and business woman
Mrs Dolby, born in China but now a British citizen through marriage, is well known in China as a state TV presenter. However, after moving to Britain she ran an educational consulting company, which it is claimed helped get the children of wealthy Chinese couples into leading British and American schools and universities. Mrs Dolby was named in official documents quoted by the Wall Street Journal as the manager of a villa in the south of France that is expected to be one of the key pieces of evidence at Mr Bo's trial.
Dalian
Major seaport in north-eastern China
It was here that Bo Xilai's political career was set on the fast track when he was appointed mayor. Mr Bo was credited with developing Dalian from an unremarkable port city to a showcase for China's economic boom. It was also in Dalian that Mr Bo and Gu Kailai reportedly first met Mr Heywood and Mr Devillers.
Chongqing
Major city in south-western China
Bo Xilai was appointed Communist Party chief of Chongqing in 2007. Wang Lijun, the city’s former police chief, was his deputy. Mr Bo became well-known for a high-profile crackdown on crime and advancing the "Chongqing model" of development, which spent heavily on developing public housing and infrastructure. However, his ambition and flamboyant style earned him enemies and raised eyebrows among party leaders back in Beijing. It was in a hotel room in Chongqing that British businessman Neil Heywood was found dead in November 2011.
French villa
Cannes, France
A six-bedroom villa in the south of France is expected to play a role in the trial of Bo Xilai. The $3.5m (£2.2m) property in Cannes was allegedly given to Mr Bo as a bribe. It it claimed to have been bought by Xu Ming, a billionaire backer of Mr Bo in Dalian. French documents quoted by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times state people close to the Bo family have been involved with the villa since 2001. French architect Patrick Devillers, British businessman Neil Heywood and Feng Jiang Dolby, a former presenter on China's state TV, have all overseen the running of the property, the papers said.
Neil Heywood
British businessman
Having enjoyed a privileged education at Harrow school, Mr Heywood moved to China in the early 1990s where he learned Mandarin, married his Chinese wife Wang Lulu and started a business career. The father-of-two worked as a consultant to foreign businesses seeking investment in China. It was while living in the north-eastern port city of Dalian in the mid-1990s that Mr Heywood met Bo Xilai - then the city’s mayor - and his wife Gu Kailai. More than a decade later, Mr Heywood was found dead in a hotel room in the south-western city Chongqing - where Mr Bo had since become Communist Party chief. In 2012, Gu Kailai and an aide were convicted of poisoning him because of "economic conflict".
Đăng ký: Tieng Anh Vui
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