It remains unclear why Mrs Gu, who has never served in the army, but who is the daughter of a PLA general, would put on uniform or why she would want to protect the man who investigated her.
Former officials in Chongqing said Mrs Gu was very rarely seen in the city, and almost never in public.
Since the investigation into her was announced in March, rumours have circulated in the city that she was mentally unstable, perhaps part of an attempt by the government to smear her.
In recent days, a series of ever more outlandish claims have been made about Mrs Gu, her husband, and the motive for Mr Heywood’s alleged murder. A campaign of disinformation appears to be under way, in order to smear the Bo family and fog what may actually have transpired.
However, one former official said the Communist party may now be trying to lessen Mrs Gu’s culpability by insinuating mental illness. “I had not heard this rumour, but if it is circulating, then this could be a means of exculpating her. They may be worried about the split in the party,” he said.
In recent days, some of Mr Bo’s allies, who had disappeared along with their former leader, have made a reappearance in the Chongqing media, suggesting possible rehabilitation.
Among them are Xu Ming, who Mr Bo brought from the Commerce ministry and who is now the party secretary of Chongqing’s Two Rivers development zone. Another is Chen Cungen, who was removed from the city’s standing committee in March, but who has remained the city’s National People’s Congress chairman.
An editorial in the Global Times in April suggested that the government is trying hard to paint the removal and investigation of Mr Bo and his wife as an “independent incident” and a criminal case rather than as a political purge.
In the Chinese system, the state-owned newspaper argued, “as soon as a gap arises, a set of mechanisms aimed at narrowing it and building a social consensus will start to work. Such mechanisms are growing increasingly strong”. The former official in Chongqing suggested the government’s aim may now be to focus on that consensus.
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