Oct. 26
CHINA:
China not to withdraw death penalty, to ensure fair trial
China will not withdraw its controversial death penalty, but the apex
court will review each case to ensure that capital punishment is meted out
'meticulously and fairly', a state media report has said, quoting the
country's top judge.
"The death sentence is the most serious level of penalty for criminals. It
is reserved for felons guilty of the most atrocious crimes," Chief Justice
Xiao Yang, also president of the Supreme People's Court, said here
yesterday at a legislative hearing on court work.
Xiao said that the apex court would no longer permit provincial courts to
review death sentences so as to ensure that capital punishment was meted
out meticulously and fairly.
China still practiced capital punishment as a deterrent to preserve social
stability, but "as few executions as possible should be carried out and as
cautiously as possible, in order to avoid wrongful executions," the judge
was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
The Supreme Court would be responsible for executing the death penalty
review according to a "preliminary legal reform plan," the judge said.
Review of the death penalty is a special procedure in Chinese criminal law
to "ensure that death sentences are justified and appropriate", he noted.
A special tribunal will have to be set up in the Supreme Court to handle
the extra workload, and the revision of related laws has begun.
Western human rights groups accuse China of carrying out maximum
executions in the world, even for petty crimes. No official figure is
available on the number of executions that take place in China.
(source: PTI)
