Earlier in his corruption trial, Bo Xilai dismissed his wife's testimony by calling her insane; today, he attacked another witness by arguing that the man was in love with his wife. According to Bo, the government's top witness, former police chief Wang Lijun, and Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, were as "close as glue and paint"—a Chinese expression for closeness, the Los Angeles Times notes. Citing "combative courtroom antics and caustic putdowns of witnesses," the paper suggests Bo has managed to humiliate prosecutors hoping for a straightforward, scripted trial; it's taken five days instead of the planned two.
Though the trial has appeared to be open, with a microblog tracking courtroom events, much of the later transcript seems to have been censored, the Times notes. The portions kept quiet seem to implicate Beijing in the scandal surrounding the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. Still, Bo is likely to face a tough sentence for his feisty behavior, including recanting his own confession: "The court could give Bo a very long sentence, somewhere between 15 years in prison to life, because they feel he is not cooperating," says a Beijing lawyer. "He really did a surprising good job of defending himself." (More Bo Xilai stories.)
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