The verdict in Gu Kailai’s murder trial will be released in the near future, after the wife of purged Chinese Politburo member Bo Xilai chose not to dispute the evidence against her on Thursday, Bloomberg reported Tang Yigan, vice president of the Hefei Intermediate People’s Court, as saying. Gu’s decision not to contest charges may have been fueled by her desire to avoid a death sentence, said Zhang Ping, a criminal defense lawyer. Tang indicated that Kailai appeared to be in good physical and emotional condition during the court proceedings. According to state media, her trial is thought to bolster people’s faith in the Chinese legal system as well as to reassert the legitimacy of the ruling Communist Party. However according to Yan Yiming, a Shanghai-based trial lawyer, the trial was not transparent. “For a trial to be truly open, anyone would have to be able to walk in,” he said.