Chinese politician Bo Xilai is appealing against his life imprisonment sentence, reports say.
The former party chief of Chongqing was sentenced to life imprisonment on Sunday. He was found guilty of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.
Bo Xilai was removed from office last year amid a scandal which saw his wife Gu Kailai convicted for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
He denied all charges in a vigorous defense at his trial.
The downfall of Bo Xilai – who had been seen as a candidate for promotion to the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s top decision-making body – was the biggest political shake-up to hit China’s ruling elite in decades.
Bo Xilai is appealing against his life imprisonment sentence
“He informed the court yesterday of his request for an appeal following the verdict,” AFP news agency quoted a lawyer with “direct knowledge” of the case as saying.
Another unnamed source quoted by the news agency said Bo Xilai would appeal against the “entire verdict”.
Earlier, the ruling Communist Party said the life sentence given to Bo showed that no one was above the law.
“The resolute punishment of Bo Xilai according to law has fully shown that there are no exceptions in the face of party discipline and state laws,” a commentary in the party-run People’s Daily said.
Many analysts say the case was simply a legal way of getting rid of one of China’s most popular politicians.
Bo Xilai is reported to have erupted in anger as he was sentenced.
Bo Xilai was expected to lodge an appeal but correspondents say few think it will be successful.
[youtube V8qdYwjn0d0]
General Ilker Basbug, Turkey’s former armed forces chief, has been jailed for life for plotting to overthrow the government, after five years of trials involving officers, lawyers, writers and journalists.
Gen. Ilker Basbug was among dozens of people convicted of involvement in the so-called Ergenekon plot.
Critics of PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan have accused him of staging show trials to eliminate his enemies.
His supporters say the trials have pushed the military out of politics.
Verdicts are being read out one by one at a specially constructed courtroom in Istanbul.
Twenty-one people have been acquitted and some 40 convicted so far, including at least one journalist and a police chief.
Ilker Basbug, who led the military between 2008 and 2010, had rejected all the charges against him.
The plot allegedly aimed to topple the government led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
General Ilker Basbug, Turkey’s former armed forces chief, has been jailed for life for plotting to overthrow the government
The defendants faced charges ranging from membership of “Ergenekon”, an alleged underground terrorist network, to illegally possessing weapons and instigating an armed uprising against the AKP.
Prosecutors had demanded life imprisonment for Gen. Ilker Basbug and 63 others, including nine other generals.
The court is sitting at the high-security Silivri prison complex, west of Istanbul, where the general is being held.
Hundreds of riot police fired tear gas to disperse some 1,000 protesters who were marching outside the courthouse, reports say.
The case is being seen as a key test in PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s showdown with secularist and military opponents.
Since Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power in 2002, hundreds of military officers – serving or retired – have been arrested.
Critics say there is little evidence for the charges and accuse the government of trying to silence its secularist opponents.
Critics have complained that the Ergenekon investigation has focused on opponents of the AKP.
The government denies any such motive.
Turkey’s military has long seen itself as the guarantor of the country’s secular constitution.
It staged three coups between 1960 and 1980 and has a history of tension with the AKP.
The AKP is considered a successor to the Welfare Party, an Islamist party that led a 1996-97 government forced to resign by an army-led campaign.
[youtube Ih_z3jUQcxI]
