The death penalty in China: executed according to law?
Posted: 18 May 2004
A woman, convicted of murder, shouts before she is taken to be executed in Ghangzhou, April 11, 2001
© Reuters
Amnesty International has many reasons for calling for an immediate moratorium on executions in China. One of them is the complete failure of China’s criminal justice system to guarantee anyone a fair trial. In a recent report, Amnesty International details how the Chinese government routinely abuses national laws and international standards in the course of executing thousands of people each year. The rights of individuals facing the death penalty are violated at every stage of legal proceedings. In the circumstances, innocent people undoubtedly have been and will continue to be executed.
The abuses documented in the report include:
- no immediate access to lawyer
- seriously inadequate legal representation
- torture used to extort confessions
- confessions extracted under torture used as evidence in court
- obviously fabricated evidence used in court
- no guaranteed presumption of innocence
- most judges have minimal or no legal training
- Party supervision of all courts resulting in verdicts before trial
- abuse of state secrets legislation to hide politically sensitive cases
- “strike-hard” campaigns that put political pressure on police to “resolve” cases
- detentions beyond legal limits
- convicts paraded in public before execution
Sadly, capital punishment in China has become routine. Nearly 70 crimes are punishable by execution, including non-violent crimes. The exact number of executions is not known because the government treats death penalty statistics as a state secret, in contravention of internationally accepted instruments requiring all countries still using the death penalty to publish statistics on its use. Based on the cases documented by Amnesty International each year, it is known that China performs by far more executions that the rest of the world combined. The number has long been suspected to be in the thousands, but one Chinese official recently referred to as many as 10,000 executions per year. When that figure was reported in the national and international news, he was quick to clarify that it was not “official”. Another source reporting on internal government documents put the total at 15,000 per year. The world will not know the truth until the Government of China is pressured to tell the world the truth.
The cases summarized briefly below illustrate the catastrophic failures in China’s criminal justice system, which make the use of the death penalty a very deadly affair. For their full stories, see http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engasa170022004
Chen Guoqing and three co-defendants accused of murder in 1996. They have now been re-tried and re-sentenced to death four times. They have so far successfully appealed three times, because the appeal court recognised the evidence against them was non-existent, scant, or based upon confessions extorted through torture. They remain in prison awaiting a final verdict.
Zhao Fenrong, a woman also accused of murder in 1998 and sentenced to death at her trial and two re-trials, also on the basis of non-existent or scant evidence, and upon a confession extorted through torture. She is currently in prison on a suspended death sentence possibly awaiting a further appeal.
Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist cleric who was given a suspended death sentence following a blatantly unfair trial and a summary appeal procedure which saw his co-defendant Lobsang Dhundup executed on the day the sentence was passed.
Gong Shengliang, a Christian pastor who was also subjected to a blatantly unfair trial and sentenced to death, only to have his sentence reduced to life on appeal. He remains in prison, and there are serious concerns for his health following allegations of repeated and sustained beatings in prison.
Amnesty International's Recommendations to the Chinese government:
A: General recommendations on international standards and law
- Impose an immediate moratorium on executions in China with a view
to total abolition of the death penalty;
- As a further step towards abolition of the death penalty,
reduce the range of crimes for which the death penalty is applicable,
in line with international standards;
- Immediately ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights at the earliest opportunity;
- Immediately ratify the Convention against Torture’s optional protocol,
allowing for regular visits of inspection to places of detention by
national and international bodies;
- Fully observe the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of
Prisoners, in particular ban the use of physical restraints and the
public parading of convicts, and guarantee immediate access to
medical attention upon detention;
- Fully observe the General Principles on the Role of Lawyers,
in particular allowing for immediate, full and uninterrupted
contact between a detainee and a lawyer of their choice.
B: Specific recommendations on legal reform
- Institute for all suspects all necessary guarantees on the presumption
of innocence, including the right to avoid self-incrimination, the
right to silence, and equality of arms;
- Bring an immediate halt to the practice of awarding police officers
bonuses, citations and promotions when a suspect is detained, to
wait instead until all legal proceeding against a suspect are complete;
- Include a specific provision in the Criminal Procedure Law explicitly
banning the use in court of testimony extorted through torture, in line
with China’s obligations under the Convention against Torture;
- Abolish adjudication committees in courts as a practical step towards
eliminating the practice of “verdict before trial” and other political
interference in trials;
- Intensify efforts to abolish prolonged or arbitrary detention for
all categories of prisoner;
- Convene an investigative committee responsible to the Standing
Committee of the NPC, to investigate all miscarriages of justice,
including but not limited to the cases raised here, with a view to
rectifying relevant faults in China’s criminal justice system.