Contact is taking a holiday!

The Chinese mega-city of Chongqing, where former Party leader Bo Xilai and wife Gu Kailai have been implicated in the murder of British national Neil Heywood

The  wife of former Chongqing Communist Party leader Bo Xilai, has been given a suspended death sentence after a Chinese court found her guilty of murdering British businessman, Neil Haywood. The sentence will likely be commuted to life in prison after two years, and could be further reduced for good behavior in custody.

Gu Kailai was born on 15^th November, 1985 and is a Chinese lawyer and businesswoman. After receiving a Masters in International Politics from Peking University, she went on to become an accomplished lawyer, founding the Kailai law firm in Beijing.

In March 2012, Gu became embroiled in a national scandal after her husband’s deputy, Wang Lijung, defected and sought refuge at the US Consulate in Chengdu. Among other allegations against her husband, Wang stated that Gu herself had been involved in a business dispute with Heywood, who died in Chongquing under suspicious circumstances. Bo Xilai was stripped of his office and has been suspended from the Politburo. He has not been seen in public since March.

Gu was placed under investigation for homicide in Heywood’s death. On July 26th she was formally charged with murdering Heywood based on what the prosecutor claimed was “irrefutable and substantial” evidence. Chinese authorities have accused her of luring the victim to a Chongqing hotel, getting him drunk, and then poisoning him with cyanide with the help of her aide, Zhang Xiaojun. Both Zhang and Gu were sentenced on August 20^th, with Zhang receiving nine years in prison.

Gu Kailai has claimed that her actions were due to a “mental breakdown” after learning that Heywood had threatened the safety of her son, Bo Guagur, as a result of an economic conflict between the two men.

Following the verdict, the United Kingdom announced that it welcomes the investigation and said that they “consistently made clear to the Chinese authorities that they wanted to see the trials in this case conform to international human rights standards and for the death penalty not to be applied.”