Bo’s allies possible 18th Congress delegates

By chankaiyee2 on May 24, 2012 • ( 1 )

Huang Qifan

SCMP reports today: “Chongqing Mayor Huang Qifan and several top officials, who once worked closely with ousted party boss Bo Xilai, are among the 50 people on the municipality’s delegate shortlist for the Communist Party congress later this year.”

The report says that the most controversial candidate on the shortlist is prosecutor Yao Ning, well-known for his role in Bo Xilai’s campaign against organised crime. He was the prosecutor of former Chongqing justice chief Wen Qiang and Beijing lawyer Li Zhuang.

The persecution and imprisonment of Li has met quite with protests, therefore, the shortlist roused quite an uproar when it was published. Protest phone calls jammed the line to the organisation department of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee. Singtao Daily also called the department many times but failed to get through.

Beijing lawyer Li Zhuang was the most unfortunate. He raised the issue of extraction of confession by the police in defending his client, resulting in he himself being tortured for tampering with evidence, and being imprisoned for one and a half years.

In his microblog yesterday, rights lawyer Yuen Yu says that Prosecutor Yao Ning went beyond the scope of public prosecution in wantonly vilifying Li Zhuang in court with false accusation of Li visiting a prostitute. His being recommended as a delegate to 18th Congress indicates the predicament lawyers advocating justice are in. They have to be aware of that. The Internet is filled with opposition to Yao’s nomination.

On his microblog, Li Zhuang told people not to respond so strongly. He hinted that perhaps Yao Ning has made major contributions in exposing Bo Xilai and Wan Lijun. “Otherwise, he would perhaps… [not be] selected as a delegate to the 18th Congress.”

However, Bo’s former partner Wang Qifan is also in the shortlist.