Gu Kailai trial: Drunk Briton given poison brew
Gu Kailai, the wife of a recently deposed top official in the Chinese Communist Party, raised no objections to the prosecution's charges in court Thursday that she and a family aide poisoned a British businessman last year, a court official said, according to CNN.
The closely watched trial, which took place Thursday under tight security in the eastern city of Hefei, adjourned in the afternoon without the announcement of a verdict, said Tang Yigan, deputy head of the Hefei Intermediate People's Court.
The hearing phase of the trial is over, and the verdict will be delivered at a later date after deliberations, Tang said, without giving a specific date.
Gu and a family aide, Zhang Xiaojun, are accused of poisoning Neil Heywood, a 41-year-old British businessman, who was found dead in November in the southwestern Chinese metropolis of Chongqing, the city where Bo was the Communist Party chief.
Prosecutors said in court Thursday that Gu and Zhang had invited Heywood to Chongqing from Beijing, according to Tang.
The three of them drank alcohol and tea at Heywood's hotel, as a result of which the Briton got drunk and began vomiting, the prosecutors alleged.
When he needed water, Gu gave Zhang some prepared poison that he put in Heywood's mouth, killing him that night, according to the prosecutors.
Gu and Zhang didn't object to the account outlined by the prosecution, Tang said Thursday. Gu's lawyer made an argument for leniency based on diminished responsibility, he said.