ON TRIAL: Bogu Kailai stands trial on charges of murdering British business Neil Heywood at the Intermediate People's Court in east China's Anhui Province on August 9 (CCTV SCREENSHOT)

Investigation

After Wang Lijun, former Vice Mayor of Chongqing and chief of the Public Security Bureau of the municipality, entered the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, on February 6, without authorization, the Ministry of Public Security looked into his report that Bogu was suspected of murdering Heywood.

The ministry set up a team to reinvestigate the case in accordance with the law, and found that Heywood had been the victim of homicide. Bogu and Zhang were then considered prime suspects.

On suspicion of intentional homicide, Bogu and Zhang were put under residential surveillance on March 15.

After Bogu was held by investigators for questioning, she first refused to call on a lawyer. In a bid to protect the legitimate rights of a criminal suspect, the judicial staff informed her of her right to a lawyer several times.

Bogu eventually decided on her own to entrust two lawyers to represent her, and Zhang chose to entrust one lawyer to represent him.

To ensure an impartial handling of the case, the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Supreme People's Court designated the Public Security Bureau, the People's Procuratorate and the Intermediate People's Court of Hefei to carry out the investigation, prosecution and trial of the case, respectively.

The trial on August 9 lasted for about seven hours.

When the trial was about to close at 3:10 p.m., Bogu said in her final statement that she accepted all the facts written in the indictment. After she was sentenced to suspended death on August 20, she indicated that she accepted the verdict.

"The case has dealt severe blows to the Party and the country, for which I ought to shoulder the responsibility. I am grateful to the humanitarian care shown to me by those who handled the case. I solemnly tell the court that in order to maintain the dignity of the law, I will calmly accept any sentence and will expect a fair and just court decision," she said in court on August 9.

Zhang said in his final statement that he confessed his guilt, and wished to extend his apologies to the relatives of the victim. "I hope the court can give me a chance to take a new lease on life. I know what I did was wrong."

Police corruption

On August 10, four former police officers in Chongqing also stood trial in Hefei on charges of covering up Bogu's illegal conduct during the investigation into Heywood's death.

According to the evidence submitted by the prosecutors at the trial of Bogu, after Heywood was found dead on the morning of November 15, 2011, Guo Weiguo, former deputy chief of Chongqing's Public Security Bureau, who has close ties with Bogu's family, was designated to handle the case by Wang Lijun.

Through interviews and on-the-scene investigations, Guo and other defendants found that Bogu was highly suspected of committing the crime. They covered up Bogu's presence at the scene by fabricating interview records, hiding material evidence and other measures.

Guo and other individuals decided through consultations to list the official cause of Heywood's death as sudden death after drinking alcohol, and did not put it on file as a criminal case. They also persuaded Heywood's family members to accept their conclusion of the cause of death and cremated the body in Chongqing without performing an autopsy.

"Everybody should abide by the law; otherwise, he or she must be punished, no matter who they are or how high of a position they occupy," said Wang Xiuqin, a member to the Anhui Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, who listened to the judgment on August 20.