BEIJING – An array of activists, academics and dissidents are questioning the authorities' purge of Bo Xilai, demanding that China's legislature follow the rule of law and allow the disgraced leader to defend himself before lawmakers.

China's leadership is desperate to move beyond a scandal involving a former member of its Politburo that has drawn worldwide attention, and some say it is doing so at the expense of standard legal procedures.

Left-leaning supporters of Bo wrote an open letter to the National People's Congress urging it to allow Bo to have his say. The petition has begun to draw broader and somewhat unlikely support, attracting signatures from exiled dissidents and rights activists who don't consider themselves in Bo's corner.