Bo Xilai's departure may usher in more demands for redress

Chongqing may see more demands for redress for injustices committed under Bo Xilai’s rule in Chongqing, Reuters reported. Lawyers and families of prisoners allege that Bo, along with his police chief, Wang Lijun, presided over many acts of injustice in the guise of cracking down on criminal gangs and corruption. More than 700 people were convicted as part of Bo’s anti-crime gang crackdown, with over 70 being executed, said lawyer Chen Youxi. It is difficult to predict how many of these prisoners will appeal their charges. “The barrier to dealing with these unjust verdicts now is that there are so many of them,” said Zou Zhiyong, a businessman in Chongqing. After arriving in Chongqing in 2007, Bo won national recognition for his campaigns to revive a revolutionary Communist spirit and to crack down on organized crime, a program that was nicknamed “fighting black triads, singing red songs.”