If, on the other hand, Bo's courtroom conduct still cannot be assured, the trial can be deemed to be “closed” on the ground that state secrets are involved and perhaps also to protect the privacy, reputations and even safety of witnesses or others said to be implicated.

The 15 members of the tribunal appeared serious and dignified, and a few were well known. The defendant, it should be noted, has been permitted to appoint lawyers of his choice, as required by law, but, until very recently, they were not once allowed to meet him.

This was to be done without prosecution or any legal authority, keeping Bo in relatively comfortable circumstances similar to those in which the late Party chief Zhao Ziyang was illegally confined for his last 16 years after the June 4,1989 Tiananmen tragedy.

The leadership's unsettling experience with Mr. Zhou, who for the past five years served as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC), the apex of political power in China, apparently led it to the conclusion that his successor should not become a PBSC member but only one of the 25 members of the Politburo. The Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) plainly governs the conduct of police, and an amended and expanded version of the CPL went into effect January 1, 2013. It warned the Houston consulate's closure was "breaking down the bridge of friendship" between the two countries.The United States has an embassy in Beijing and consulates in five other mainland cities — Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenyang and Wuhan. Indeed, many observers and Jiang Qing herself challenged the legality of its existence, on the ground that the trial should have been conducted by the regular courts. As it is used in federal criminal cases, "the government" refers to the lawyers of the U.S. Attorney's office who are prosecuting the case. Many others are commanded to undergo periods of “legal education” in less rigorous circumstances. It also has a consulate in Hong Kong, a Chinese territory.The consulate in Chengdu is responsible for monitoring Tibet and other areas in the southwest inhabited by nonethnic Chinese minorities that are considered especially sensitive by Beijing.Asian stock markets, already uneasy about the uncertain pace of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, fell Friday on the news of the closure.China’s market benchmark, the Shanghai Composite Index, lost 3.9%. In 2011, after failing to persuade the local procuracy that young Chongqing official Ren Jianyu's blogging criticism of Bo's pro-Cultural Revolution “sing Red” policy constituted the crime of subversion, the police sent Ren off to two years of RETL. The notice gave no indication of what prompted the warning.On Tuesday, the Trump administration ordered the Houston consulate closed within 72 hours. This is likely to become the prevailing practice, although in some places there have been experiments with other methods. Moreover, the trial seemed anything but fair.
Ren can thank Bo’s subsequent downfall for his release after 14 months of confinement.

Given China’s current repressive climate, perhaps piecemeal progress toward curbing RETL is the most one can expect at this time. They still detain millions of people every year—some repeatedly—for up to 15 days for each alleged violation of a very broad range of minor offenses against public order.

The formal criminal process is often blatantly distorted if that is deemed politically desirable. The 1979 codes of criminal law and procedure, their revisions in 1996-97, and their more recent amendments have symbolized and articulated an improving system of criminal justice, one that is staffed by increasingly educated and trained judges, prosecutors, police and defense lawyers and that features impressive legal institutions, procedures and even buildings.