Reuters
This photo shows Bo Xilai, British businessman Neil Heywood and Bo's wife Gu Kailai.
By Eric Baculinao, NBC News, and wire reports
Updated at 6:35 a.m. ET: HEFEI, China - China's most politically sensitive trial in three decades was held behind closed doors on Thursday?as the wife of?disgraced politician Bo Xilai faced charges of murdering?a British former associate.
Gu Kailai and a household aide are accused of poisoning Neil Heywood, a businessman who had close ties to the Bo family.
A British diplomat was seen entering the court, but did not comment. International media were not allowed into the court.
Gu was represented by government-appointed lawyers. Her trial?is seen by many Chinese as part of a push against her husband Bo, who made powerful enemies as he campaigned to join the next generation of top central leaders.
Wife of ousted China politician charged with Briton's murder
Bo was formerly considered a contender for the inner sanctum of power -- the party's Politburo Standing Committee -- in a once-in-a-decade leadership transition that is currently under way. The new leadership is expected to be unveiled in October.
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Court official Tang Yigan told reporters that Gu "was in good shape and mentally stable" while in court. Tang added that the trial had ended.
There was no word when the verdict or sentencing would be announced with estimates ranging from a day or two to several weeks, although most experts expect a quick conviction.
'Why are you taking me?'
State censorship of Internet chatter on the trial was swifter than normal on Thursday. Users of China's popular Twitter-like service Sina Weibo played cat and mouse with authorities to discuss the case and used word play to try and get around the controls.
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Police dragged two protesters away from outside the Hefei Intermediate People's Court in eastern China. The two Bo supporters kicked and yelled as they were put into an unmarked car after they had appeared outside the building, condemning the trial as a sham and?singing patriotic songs that were the trademark of Bo's populist leadership style.
"I don't believe it. This case was decided well in advance," Hu Jiye, a middle-aged man wearing a T-shirt and baseball cap, told foreign reporters at the rear of the court building, which was cordoned off by dozens of police standing in heavy rain.
Eugene Hoshiko / AP
Police officers stand guard outside a court where the murder trial of Gu Kailai was held on Thursday in Hefei, China.
Hu and his friend were then shoved by police officers into a car. His companion, also a middle-aged man, struggled and yelled, "Why are you taking me? Why are you taking me?"
But many ordinary Chinese citizens were unaware of the trial, or felt that it had little impact on their lives.?
"We are not really interested in the Bo Xilai and Gu Kailai cases because they are far removed from us, we are very busy with our daily lives," Beijing construction manager Ji Jiaminghe told NBC News.?
"The lesson of the Bo Xilai case is that it was wrong to go against the political mainstream," Ji said, even as he?acknowledged that he loved to sing and listen to the "Red Songs" that Bo promoted.?
Communist Party aristocracy
The trial of Gu, the glamorous daughter of ruling Communist Party aristocracy, is the most sensational since the conviction of the Gang of Four more than 30 years ago for crimes during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution.
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Gu and family aide Zhang Xiaojun face the death penalty if convicted of poisoning Heywood, a former family friend, last November in a dispute that has not been spelt out. ?Very little official information has been released on the case.
Police sources initially claimed Gu had poisoned Heywood in a disagreement over an illicit financial transaction she had wanted him to help her complete, and they portrayed Gu as a greedy wife who was translating her husband's connections into dollars.
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But when Gu was formally indicted, the official allegation instead hinted at a personal motive, saying Heywood had made unspecified threats against her son Bo Guagua, a factor that may count as a mitigating circumstance and help Gu avoid execution.
Any hesitance to put Gu to death would make sense, according to?Hu Xingdou, an outspoken blogger and frequent government critic, told NBC News.?
"The death penalty is not likely precisely because a political struggle is involved and people don't like political rivals being executed," he said.
In announcing the indictment about two weeks ago, the official Xinhua News Agency made clear the government considers the verdict a foregone conclusion.
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"The facts of the two defendants' crime are clear, and the evidence is irrefutable and substantial," it said.
The trial and sentencing of both Gu and Zhang are widely seen as a prelude to a possible criminal prosecution of Bo, who is being detained for violating party discipline -- an accusation that covers corruption, abuse of power and other misdeeds.
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Bo, who was a favorite of party leftists by promoting himself as a friend of the poor and an enemy of corruption, was sacked as Chongqing party chief in March after his police chief, Wang Lijun, identified Gu as a suspect in Heywood's death.
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Press behaved 'appallingly'?
On Thursday morning, there was no sign of Gu's elderly mother, nor of any members of Heywood's family in or around the courtroom.
In London, Heywood's mother accused the press of spreading lies about her son. "You've all behaved so appallingly," Ann Heywood said Wednesday outside her home.
British media have suggested Neil Heywood was involved in money laundering, worked for British intelligence or that he was Gu's lover. Ann Heywood claimed to know more about the case than was in the public domain, but she wasn't specific and said the truth would come out eventually.
City divided by disgraced Communist leader's legacy
Before his ouster in the spring, Bo, also the son of a revolutionary veteran, was one of China's most powerful and charismatic politicians. But his overt maneuvering for a top political job, as well as high-profile campaigns to bust organized crime and promote communist culture -- while trampling over civil liberties and reviving memories of the chaotic Cultural Revolution in the process -- angered some leaders.
Bo is the first Politburo member to be removed from office in five years and the scandal kicked up talk of a political struggle involving Bo supporters intent on derailing succession plans calling for Vice President Xi Jinping to lead the party for the next decade.
Bo is in the hands of the party's internal discipline and inspection commission, which is expected to issue a statement about his infractions. That would open the way for a court trial with charges possibly including obstructing police work and abuse of power. Thus far, Bo has been accused only of grievous but unspecified rules violations.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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