July 26
MALAYSIA:
Courts likely to 'kill fewer, kill carefully'
Courts at all levels have been ordered to set tougher procedural standards
for trials involving the death penalty - a step legal experts have hailed
as a sign that China will reduce its use of capital punishment.
"Every procedure of the 1st trial, 2nd trial and retrial, as well as the
reviewing of the death penalty, must be rigidly executed," Cao Jianming,
vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, said at a recent seminar for
senior justice officials.
Courts are now also being urged to examine evidence more carefully to
avoid incorrect death sentences.
"Cao's speech indicates that the nation plans to decrease the number of
capital punishment sentences in order to follow the policy to 'kill fewer,
kill carefully'," said Chen Xingliang, a law professor at Peking
University.
Recent examples such as the case of She Xianglin, who was wrongly
convicted and served 11 years in prison for murder, and the unjust murder
case of Nie Shubin have widened debate over the possibility of abolishing
the death penalty.
But there also exist some vague articles in the Criminal Code that have
led to chaotic standards among the lower courts in doling out the death
penalty, Chen said.
For example, the code stipulates that the death penalty is to be imposed
for the most serious crimes, "but there is no detailed regulation on how
serious 'the most serious' has to be," he said.
(source: Malaysia Star)
