Prosecutors call for severe punishment in Bo Xilai case

Details

Category: DateLines

Created on Monday, 26 August 2013 00:00

Hits: 3522

Prosecutors call for severe punishment in Bo Xilai case

Prosecutors have called for a severe punishment for former star politician Bo Xilai who allegedly embezzled millions and covered up a murder. The court is expected to hand down a guilty verdict.

Closing arguments were heard on Monday in the high-profile trial of former regional politician, Bo Xilai. This came as proceedings entered their fifth day, far surpassing the expected duration of only two days to hear arguments and deliver a verdict.

Bo has admitted to some wrongdoing, but has maintained his innocence of the allegations brought against him by the prosecution. During the trial, he not only dismissed the reliability of key witnesses - including his wife, two businessmen from whom he allegedly accepted bribes, and his former top aide - but also mocked them, calling them crazy, lacking in character and liars.

{sidebar id=11 align=right}The prosecution criticized Bo's behavior during the trial as inconsistent with previous testimony he had given about his alleged crimes.

"We take this opportunity to remind Bo Xilai the facts of the crimes are objective, and can't be shifted around on your whim," the prosecution said on Monday. The Jinan Intermediate People's Court released the closing arguments to the public via its feed on Chinese microblog Sina Weibo.

 Bo last served as party boss in the southwest metropolis of Chongqing until a scandal involving the death of British businessman Neil Heywood forced his removal from power in 2012 and landed him in police custody on charges of covering up a murder and abuse of power.

In addition to facing charges of abuse of power in the alleged cover-up of Heywood's murder, the state prosecutor has also charged him with accepting bribes worth up to $3.5 million (20.7 million yuan; 2.6 million euros) in the form of gifts.

"The severeness of the accused's crimes, and that he refused to admit guilt, don't match the circumstances of leniency," it said. "[He] must be severely punished in accordance with the law."

The verdict is to be handed down at a later, unspecified date.

Guilty verdict expected

Despite praise from China's media for the trial's unprecedented transparency, observers expect a similar outcome to that of previous trials involving politicians who have angered the country's Communist Party, which controls the courts.

Bo's obstinacy and brash responses to witness testimony during the proceedings clash with the traditional strategy for receiving a lighter sentence, according to a law professor from US-based Seton Hall University who spoke to the news agency AFP.

"In China, like many other countries, most defendants plead guilty, whether or not it is a case with political implications," Seton Hall University law professor Margaret Lewis said. "In part this Is because of a general policy in China of 'leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist," Lewis added.

The court could hand down a death penalty. However, Bo has refrained from criticizing the party during his spirited defense. His caution could regain him some favor from the court, according to Chinese politics expert Ding Xueliang from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

"So far, the worst has been avoided," Ding told news the Associated Press news agency. "He's been trying to play the game within the limitations set up by the Chinese leadership. He does not talk about politically sensitive things, even though everybody inside and outside China knows that he's in trouble for politics."

Despite enjoying public popularity during his time in office, Bo reportedly lost favor within the party for his handling of Heywood's murder. Local police chief, Wang Lijun, singled out Bo's wife - Gu Kailai - as a suspect in the case. Rather than reporting the incident to Beijing, Bo opted to sack the police chief, who then drew attention to the scandal by fleeing to the US consulate in Chengdu and applying for asylum. Gu Kailai was convicted in 2012 of the British businessman's murder.

kms/pfd (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)

Date 26.08.2013 Source: Deutsche Welle

No comments

Tsvangirai in judges 'insult' probe

Details

Category: Current Issues

Created on Tuesday, 20 August 2013 00:00

Hits: 3331

Tsvangirai in judges 'insult' probe

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai may face contempt of court charges for "disparaging remarks" he made about the judiciary.

High Court judge Chinembiri Bhunu said prosecutors would be informed.

His comments came as Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party lost two court cases relating to the disputed 31 July election.

{sidebar id=11 align=right}The Constitutional Court said President Robert Mugabe's re-election was "free, fair and credible".

Mr Mugabe won with 61% of the presidential vote against 34% for Mr Tsvangirai.

The two had been part of power-sharing government formed in 2009 under pressure from regional leaders following elections the year before marred by violence and allegations of rigging.

The Constitutional Court made its ruling on Tuesday despite the MDC withdrawing its case last Friday, alleging it would not get a fair hearing.

'Soiled dignity'

The MDC's separate case before the High Court seeking full details of the results from the electoral commission was also dismissed on Tuesday.

Justice Bhunu said the High Court did not have the jurisdiction to rule on the matter, adding the case had no merit because of the applicant's "gross conduct in soiling the dignity and integrity of this court".

Mr Tsvangirai, who served as prime minister in the power-sharing government, had said there was little difference between the judiciary and Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party as judges had been appointed while he was in office without him being consulted, as required by law.

Such "scathing and disparaging remarks concerning the entire judiciary of this country" would be referred to either the attorney general's office or the National Prosecuting Authority for them to consider pressing contempt of court charges, Justice Bhunu said.

Mr Mugabe's defence lawyer, Terrence Hussein, told the BBC: "This is serious, the expectation is that the relevant authorities will look into the case."

Mr Mugabe, 89, is due to be inaugurated for another five-year term on Thursday.

The MDC said that more than a million voters were prevented from casting their ballots - mainly in urban areas considered to be its strongholds, allegations backed up by a 7,000-strong group of local observers, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network.

But the African Union has said that any irregularities were not enough to overturn the margin of victory.

Meanwhile, the United States has refused to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe despite a call by regional leaders for the West to do so.

At a meeting of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) over the weekend, Malawi's President Joyce Banda said "Zimbabweans have suffered enough".

But Ms Psaki said the US stood by its assessment that while the elections were relatively peaceful, they were not a credible expression of voters' opinions "due to serious flaws throughout the electoral process, as highlighted by the regional and domestic monitors".

From: BBC

No comments

Zimbabwe seeks successors for Mugabe, Tsvangirai

Details

Category: DateLines

Created on Thursday, 22 August 2013 00:00

Hits: 3605

Zimbabwe seeks successors for Mugabe, Tsvangirai

89-year-old Robert Mugabe has begun his seventh, and probably final, term as president of Zimbabwe. The debate about a successor, both for him and for opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, has now begun.

There is just one person in Zimbabwe who thinks Robert Mugabe needs no successor - and that is Robert Mugabe himself. The 89-year-old is now embarking on his seventh term as president of the southern African country. "Don't you want me to stay the whole term? Why should I offer myself as a candidate if it is to cheat the people by resigning afterwards?" he asked reporters on election day (31.07.2013). They had asked if he really intended to stay in office until 2018 or was planning to step down earlier in favor of a successor.

{sidebar id=10 align=right}However few Zimbabweans take the president's words at face value. "People know this will be Mugabe's last term in office," said Wilf Mbanga, editor-in chief of the opposition paper "The Zimbabwean", in an interview with DW.

Mugabe has been in power for 33 years and is beginning to show signs of aging. For years there has been speculation that he is suffering from cancer. Frequent trips abroad have done little to silence the rumors.

During his long period in office, Mugabe has successfully sidelined numerous opponents but has never named a successor. This is all part of his strategy to make sure no one can shake his hold on power, observers say.

However, when there is talk of such things, two names are frequently heard: Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.

After Mugabe, Mujuru?

"“Recent decisions by Mugabe show he has a soft spot for Joice Mujuru," according to Thomas Deve, a political analyst in Harare. It is said that, in 1974 during the civil war, Mujuru shot down a helicopter with a machine gun. At the age of 25, she became a minister following Zimbabwe's independence from Great Britain. She packed secondary school studies in between cabinet sessions and parliamentary debates. When she resigned "Mugabe handpicked her to come back," Deve said.

Under the new constitition, Vice-President Mujuru would not automatically become president should Mugabe die while in office. In that event, the parliamentary speaker would name a temporary successor for the period leading up to fresh elections. Governing party ZANU-PF is then likely to be rocked by internal power struggles. "Mugabe is the glue that holds the party together," Wilf Mbanga told DW. "If Mugabe would disappear from the scene tomorrow, you would see warfare within ZANU-PF. Mugabe is the only one who can keep the two factions together."

Comeback for 'The Crocodile'?

Mujuru's main rival, Emmerson Mnangagwa, also has good connections within ZANU-PF. Nicknamed "The Crocodile", Mnangagwa is currently defense minister, after previously serving as minister of state security and parliamentary speaker. For a long time he was regarded as Mugabe's successor. Then, in 2004, he lost out to Mujuru who became vice president. In the same year Mnangagwa also lost his post as head of administration within ZANU-PF. Observers believe he may have become too strong for President Mugabe's liking.

Recently he has again been seen in the company of President Mugabe which has led to speculation that he is making a comeback. However, for Thomas Deve, Mnangagwa still lags behind Mujuru. Deve says he lacks much of the public and political support that he enjoyed previously.

Amongst the population at large, Mnangagwa is feared as a hardliner. In the 1980s, when he held the office of minister of state security, Zimbabwean elite troops and security forces attacked supporters of Mugabe's rival Joshua Nkomo. 20,000 people died during the operation called "Gukuharundi" (A Shona word meaning "the early rain which washes away the chaff.")

Opposition also seeks a leader

Mugabe's main opposition rival Morgan Tsvangirai is also facing calls for a successor. For Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic change (MDC), the elections at the end of July were a disaster. Just 34 percent voted for Tsvangirai as president, 61 percent for Mugabe. There is considerable anger and frustration within the MDC, Mbanga told DW.

Indeed, Tsvangirai's record as party leader is unimpressive. He has now lost three times against Mugabe in presidential elections. Many party members have not forgiven him for joining forces with Mugabe in a coalition from 2008 to 2913. While MDC deputies were involved in corruption scandals, Tsvangirai himself made headlines with his personal liaisons.

New opposition party

Top of the list of possible successors is former finance minister Tendai Biti. While he was in office, the economy reversed its long decline and grew by up to nine percent. Inflation is under control and the country has seen record turnovers from the sale of gold, platinum and cotton. Nevertheless, analyst Thomas Deve does not think Biti, or any other leading member of the MDC, will take over from Tsvangirai. "In terms of political presence, he is much stronger than all the people challenging him," Deve said.

Nevertheless, Tsvangirai is the target of much criticism, both within the party and from state media which revel in reports of internal bickering. Roy Bennett, a former deputy minister for agriculture and member of parliament, has left the party in protest. On August 20, 2013 a group of former MDC members founded a new party, the Zimbabwe Independent Alliance (ZIA). While observers do not believe the ZIA can shift the MDC from its position as strongest opposition force, it is clear that there are hard times ahead.

Date 22.08.2013

Author Daniel Pelz / sh

Editor Mark Caldwell

Source: Deutsche Welle

No comments

Egyptian General Calls for Mass Protests

Details

Category: Current Issues

Created on Wednesday, 24 July 2013 00:00

Hits: 3512

Egyptian General Calls for Mass Protests

By KAREEM FAHIM and MAYY EL SHEIKH

CAIRO — The commander of the armed forces asked Egyptians on Wednesday to hold mass demonstrations that would give him a “mandate” to confront violence and terrorism, appealing to one side of Egypt’s sharply divided populace and raising the specter of broader unrest.

During a speech to recent military graduates, the commander, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, warned of forces taking the country into a “dark tunnel,” a clear reference to Islamist supporters of the deposed president, Mohamed Morsi, and he asked Egyptians to protest on Friday.

{sidebar id=11 align=right}“I’m asking you to show the world,” he said. “If violence is sought, or terrorism is sought, the military and the police are authorized to confront this.”

The call for mass mobilization thrust the general into the center of Egypt’s contentious politics, raising questions about his ambitions while contradicting the military’s pledges to defer to civilian leaders after removing Mr. Morsi. His appeal also hinted at a broader crackdown against Islamists, whose leaders have already been detained.

As the Muslim Brotherhood planned competing protests on Friday, Egyptians faced another threat of bloody street clashes in what has become a long and wearying cycle.

In a statement, the Brotherhood said the general’s speech amounted to a call for “civil war.”

Michael Wahid Hanna, who studies Egyptian politics at the Century Foundation, a left-leaning policy group, said the speech was “pretty ominous.”

“At best this was an irresponsible effort to isolate the Muslim Brotherhood, to gain leverage in whatever negotiations ensue,” he said. “At worst, it will green-light violence at lower levels and potentially provide a mandate to use force to break up the sit-in,” a reference to the Cairo encampment of Mr. Morsi’s supporters.

“Neither of those things is good,” Mr. Hanna added.

Wednesday’s developments cemented a standoff between the Brotherhood and the military that started after the generals removed Mr. Morsi from power on July 3. Since then, the military has held Mr. Morsi incommunicado in an undisclosed location, ignoring calls from Western allies and the United Nations to release him. An interim government has pressed ahead quickly, securing financial aid and beginning the process of amending the Constitution, while trying to fend off questions about its own legitimacy.

The Brotherhood has adopted an increasingly confrontational stance to support its effort to restore Mr. Morsi to power. The group’s sit-ins have given way to daily marches, many of which have been attacked by shadowy armed groups. Other marches are clearly intended to provoke a response.

While General Sisi’s speech intensified Islamist fears about the return of a police state, it may well have strengthened the Brotherhood’s hand.

“The Brotherhood needs the repression to get worse, to effectively make their case to the broader public,” said Shadi Hamid, a researcher at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar who studies the group.

Brotherhood leaders quickly seized on the speech as evidence that General Sisi was Egypt’s new dictator, saying that the country had returned to “fascist military rule that confiscates the people’s freedom, sovereignty and dignity.”

“We hold General Sisi completely responsible for any blood that is shed from any Egyptian citizen, as well as for deepening national division,” the group said.

The arguments between the Islamists and the military, as well as General Sisi’s turn in the spotlight, further sidelined Egypt’s civilian government, which was mostly silent on Wednesday.

A conference on Wednesday that the government billed as an effort at national reconciliation was overshadowed by the speech. It was also boycotted by the very Islamist forces, including the Brotherhood, whose grievances have widened Egypt’s divide.

Neither the interim president nor the prime minister spoke publicly about the general’s call for mass protests. On Wednesday evening, a spokesman for the president was quoted in the state newspaper praising the military.

“Egypt started the war on terrorism, and the call of General el-Sisi is to protect the revolution and the state,” said the spokesman, Ahmed Al-Muslimani.

Hours before General Sisi’s speech, unidentified attackers bombed a police station north of Cairo, raising the specter of a new kind of political violence.

Speaking to the military graduates in the coastal city of Alexandria, General Sisi warned Egyptians and the country’s “political forces” of the need to confront such violence.

“We aren’t going to wait until there’s a big problem and then ask, ‘Why did this happen?’ ” he said.

The speech, by turns paternal and confrontational, was largely devoted to rebutting criticism that the general had betrayed Mr. Morsi, who promoted him nearly a year ago. General Sisi also insisted that the promised transition to an elected government would not be derailed.

“Please never think it could be abandoned, even for a moment,” he said.

Robert F. Worth contributed reporting.

Source: The New York Times

No comments