Bo Xilai has dismissed testimony from his wife, Gu Kailai, at his trial, saying she was unstable and had been coerced.
Video footage and written testimony from Gu Kailai, who was convicted last year of the murder of Neil Heywood, was posted on the court’s official microblog.
In it she said she felt Neil Heywood was a threat to her son, Bo Guagua.
Gu Kailai also spoke of receiving gifts from a Dalian entrepreneur, Xu Ming, from whom Bo Xilai is accused of taking bribes.
Bo Xilai, the former Chongqing Communist Party chief, is accused of bribery, corruption and abuse of power.
On Thursday he denied bribery, saying he had been forced into admitting it to prosecutors, and rubbished testimony from witnesses including his wife.
Of Gu Kailai’stestimony on Friday, Bo Xilai reportedly said: “In her unstable mental state, prosecutors put pressure on her so she would turn on me.”
Foreign media are not being allowed into the trial, which is taking place in the city of Jinan in Shandong province.
Analysts say the trial is as much about getting rid of a popular politician as it is about criminal wrongdoing. Bo Xilai is widely expected to be found guilty.
Bo Xilai has dismissed testimony from his wife, Gu Kailai, at his trial, saying she was unstable and had been coerced
Bo Xilai’s downfall was seen as the biggest political shake-up to hit China’s ruling elite in decades. In February 2012 his police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to the US consulate in Chengdu amid an apparent fall-out with Bo Xilai.
Shortly afterwards, Chinese authorities announced that they were reinvestigating the death of Neil Heywood, who died in a Chongqing hotel in November 2011.
Gu Kailai has since been jailed for the murder of Neil Heywood – a crime she carried out, state media say, because of differences over a business deal.
In written testimony to the court, she said she believed that the personal safety of her son “was under threat”.
“In the second half of 2011 Guagua made a video call to me on his iPad telling me that Neil Heywood threatened him,” she said. Subsequent e-mails between the two scared her, she said.
“After the video call I was very worried which led to the 15 November crime [when Neil Heywood was killed].”
Written testimony from Patrick Devillers, a French architect, meanwhile, pointed to conflict between Gu Kailai and Neil Heywood over a financial deal related to a villa in France that has been a focus of the bribery charges.
It was paid for by Xu Ming, the court heard on Thursday, one of two men from whom Bo Xilai is accused of receiving bribes totalling 21.8 million yuan ($3.56 million).
In her video testimony Gu Kailai said it was true that Xu Ming had bought things for her and her son, Bo Guagua.
“When we need to book a flight, family members know to ask from Xu Ming,” she said.
Bo Xilai, responding to his wife’s testimony, is reported to have said: “How much credibility is there are about Bo Gu Kailai’s testimony, and her written material? Bo Gu Kailai has changed and she became crazy and lies all the time.”
It is not clear how long the trial will last. Bo Xilai is the last major player in connection with the Neil Heywood case to face judicial proceedings.
His son, Bo Guagua, remains in the US, where earlier this week he said any verdict would carry no moral weight if his “well-being has been bartered for my father’s acquiescence or my mother’s further co-operation”.
Bo Guagua also said his mother had been unwell since 2006, following a “sudden collapse of her physical health”.
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Bo Guagua, the son of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, says he hopes his father will be allowed to defend himself “without constraints” at his upcoming trial.
In a statement to the New York Times, Bo Guagua said he had been denied contact with his parents for 18 months.
Bo Xilai – a former party high-flier – goes on trial on Thursday charged with bribery, corruption and abuse of power.
He was expelled from the Communist Party amid a scandal over the murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood.
Bo Xilai’s wife, Gu Kailai, was jailed in August 2012 for the killing of Neil Heywood, reportedly over a deal gone wrong.
The scandal led to a shake-up at the very top of China’s political elite in the months preceding a once-in-a-decade leadership handover.
Bo Guagua, who was studying in the US when the scandal unfolded, has since kept a low profile.
“It has been 18 months since I have been denied contact with either my father or my mother. I can only surmise the conditions of their clandestine detention and the adversity they each endure in solitude,” he said in a statement to the New York Times.
Bo Guagua hopes his father Bo Xilai will be allowed to defend himself at his upcoming trial
“I hope that in my father’s upcoming trial, he is granted the opportunity to answer his critics and defend himself without constraints of any kind.”
“However, if my well-being has been bartered for my father’s acquiescence or my mother’s further co-operation, then the verdict will clearly carry no moral weight.”
Some reports have suggested that Gu Kailai may testify against her husband at the trial.
There has been speculation that both the parents agreed to demands from Chinese officials in return for a guarantee that their son would not be pursued.
Bo Guagua also spoke out in defense of his mother, describing her as “silenced and defenseless” and voicing concern about her state of health.
“She has already overcome unimaginable tribulation after the sudden collapse of her physical health in 2006 and subsequent seclusion,” he said.
State media, in reports of Gu Kailai’s trial, said she attributed her actions to a breakdown.
Bo Guagua last released a statement in September, saying he found the allegations against his father hard to believe.
He is soon to begin studying law in New York, he confirmed to the New York Times.
The scandal emerged after Bo Xilai’s police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to the US consulate in February 2012.
A month later, Bo Xilai was removed from his post as party chief in Chongqing and then stripped of his Communist Party posts as his wife was investigated for the murder of Neil Heywood.
Gu Kailai was subsequently convicted of poisoning the businessman to death and is in prison, as is the police chief, Wang Lijun, for abuse of power related to the subsequent cover-up.
Bo Xilai, meanwhile, has not been seen in public since March 2012.
He goes on trial on Thursday in the city of Jinan accused of taking advantage of his office to accept money and property, as well as embezzling public money.
Most political analysts believe that the outcome of the trial has already been decided and that Bo Xilai will almost certainly be found guilty.
Bo Guagua, son of sacked Chinese politician Bo Xilai, says the “facts will speak for themselves” when his mother, Gu Kailai, goes on trial for murder.
Bo Guagua said in an e-mail to US broadcaster CNN that he had given a witness statement to Gu Kailai’s defence team.
Gu Kailai will be tried by a court in Hefei on Thursday for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
The case has become one of China’s biggest political scandals in decades.
Gu Kailai, a well-known lawyer, and her aide Zhang Xiaojun are accused of killing Neil Heywood in November 2011 in the city of Chongqing, where Bo Xilai was Communist Party chief.
Bo Guagua, son of sacked Chinese politician Bo Xilai, says the "facts will speak for themselves" when his mother, Gu Kailai, goes on trial for murder
State media said Gu Kailai and her son fell out with Neil Heywood over “economic interests” and that she was worried about “Neil Heywood’s threat to her son’s personal security”.
“As I was cited as a motivating factor for the crimes accused of my mother, I have already submitted my witness statement,” Bo Guagua told CNN.
“I hope that my mother will have the opportunity to review them,” the 24-year-old said.
Bo Guagua, who is believed to be in the US after graduating from Harvard University, did not specify what he wrote in his statement, CNN reports.
State media has called the case against Gu Kailai and her aide “irrefutable and substantial”. She has not been seen in public since April, when the investigation was announced.
British diplomats will be allowed to witness the trial but journalists will not be attending. Gu Kailai is being represented by state-appointed lawyers.
The case comes as China prepares to install a new generation of top leaders at a party congress due later this year, in its 10-yearly leadership transition.
Bo Xilai, who has been sacked from his official positions, had been seen as a strong contender for promotion. He has not been seen in public since April.
