China's Bo calls wife mad after she testifies against him
JINAN, China (Reuters) - Fallen Chinese politician Bo Xilai called his wife insane after she testified at his landmark trial on Friday that he knew of money and a villa in the French Riviera that prosecutors say were given to the couple by a businessman friend.
The video and written testimony by Gu Kailai directly contradicted Bo's robust defense on Thursday, and appear to set him up to be found guilty in China's most dramatic trial since the Gang of Four were dethroned in 1976 at the end of the Cultural Revolution.
"c," Gu said in a video recording shown in court and posted on the court's microblog, when asked whether Bo knew that she and their son, Bo Guagua, had received money from plasticsto-property entrepreneur Xu Ming.
Bo dismissed Gu's testimony as the ravings of a mad- woman.
"Bogu Kailai has changed, she's insane, often tells lies," Bo said, according to transcripts on the court microblog, using Gu's official but rarely used name. "Under the circumstances of her mental illness, the investigators placed huge pressure on her to expose me.
"Her testimony as far as I am concerned, was (given) under psychological pressure, and driven by (hope of) a reduced sentence," he added.
Gu has been jailed for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood in November 2011, the crime which eventually led to Bo's downfall.