By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
BEIJING, China – The Supreme People’s Court of China, which has the power of final approval for death penalty cases, announced that the Court would cut down on the number of annual executions and impose more suspended death sentences.
China is considered to be the world’s top executioner. According to Amnesty International, at least 7,000 Chinese have been sentenced to death and 1,718 people were executed in 2008, which is 72% of the world’s total number of people executed. The exact number of executions is a state secret in China.
The death penalty applies to 60 offenses in China, including non-violent crimes like tax fraud and embezzlement. However, after China gave the Supreme People’s Court the power to review death penalty cases from the lower courts two years ago, there have been fewer executions. One Chinese newspaper reported that the Supreme People’s Court overturned 10% of the death penalty cases in 2008.
Murder convict being taken away to be executed in Guangzhou (Source: Reuters)
Zhang Zun, the vice-president of the Supreme People’s Court said, “As it is impossible for the country to abolish capital punishment under current realities and social security conditions, it is an important effort to strictly control the application of the penalty by judicial organs.” Zhang added, “Judicial departments should use the least number of death sentences possible,” and use capital punishment only against “those who have committed extremely…heinous crimes that lead to grave social consequences.”
However, rights groups have been concerned because Chinese officials are alleged to have remarked that violent protesters of the riots that took place in Xinjiang region earlier this month would be executed.
One human rights group researcher, Si-si Liu, expressed her concern saying, “We question how this kind of sentencing decision, which only courts should be eligible to make can be made by people outside the judicial system.”
For more information, please see:
Al Jazeera – China to cut down on executions – 29 July 2009
BBC – China to cut down number of executions – 29 July 2009
Guardian – China to restrict death penalty and cut executions – 29 July 2009
