Washington D.C.—One hundred Chinese legal experts have called on the Supreme Court of the People's Republic of China, to immediately revoke the power of local courts to approve the death penalty. This may reduce injustice resulting from local courts abusing the use of the death penalty and misinterpreting the legal standard of the death penalty criterion. Lower levels have partial rights at the moment, empowering them to approve the death penalty. A seminar, entitled "One Hundred Well-Known Experts, Scholars and Veteran Attorneys Request the Supreme Court to Immediately Revoke The Power To Approve The Death Penalty", was held by a well-known Beijing Chen Yueqin Law Firm on August 30th in Beijing. Many attended the seminar including the famous attorney Zhang Sizhi, the executive Dean of Beijing's Normal University of Criminal Law and Scientific Research Institute, Dr. Lu Jianping, Chen Yueqin, founder of the Beijing Chen Yueqin Law Firm and others. One hundred people signed the appeal letter.
Death penalty abused, and crimes judged differently
Attorney Chen Yueqin said, local courts have abused the death penalty, and how the criterion of the death penalty is applied, differs severely, which infringes upon citizens' rights. She said, "Wang Wenda from Lishui, Zhejiang Province was sentenced to death because of raping a prostitute. Although there was no one severely injured or killed, he was sentenced to death and executed immediately by the Zhejiang Provincial People's Supreme Court. However, the same type of case in which Lang Jianhao robbed a massage girl, the sentence was only 13 years of imprisonment. Chen Yueqin pointed out that similar criminals in different areas may have totally different fates. This brings to light how local courts seem to have different criteria for the death penalty. The degree of abuse the use of the death penalty is shocking, she said.
Chen Yueqing said that they requested the Supreme Court to immediately revoke the rights of local courts to approve the death penalty, because life is precious and people cannot return to life after death. She said, "If the Supreme Court doesn't revoke the rights of local courts approving the death penalty, then more people like Wang Wenda who originally would not be killed may disappear in front of our eyes."
Attorney Zhang Sizhi, who is called "The Chinese Attorney's Conscience" said that it is very important that the Supreme Court revoke this power of the local courts. However, if the implementation of law of the court's level is not reformed and improved, there will still be many innocent lives lost even if the power is revoked. Zhang Sizhi urged the Supreme Court to revoke the local courts' power before October 1; otherwise there will be a couple of hundred people executed between October and December. The first criminal law proclaimed in 1979 states "Excluding the death penalty adjudged by the Supreme Court, all cases involving the death penalty should be reported to the Supreme Court for approval." However, during the "Strike Hard Campaign" in 1983, The People's Congress regulated the 13th Article of Organic Law of the People's Courts as follows: "power of approving death penalty cases like "killing, rape, plunder and others, when necessary, the Supreme Court will authorize provincial, municipal and cities supreme courts to perform death penalty"
Professor Lu Jianping considered that the Supreme Court's granting power to approve the death penalty violates the 48th Article of China's Criminal Law that was amended in 1996, and the 199th Article of Criminal Procedure Law that was amended in 1997. The Organic Law of the People's Court was amended in 1983. According to the rule that new law supersedes old law and lower law cannot violate upper law, the Supreme Court's partial transfer of the power to approve the death penalty violates the law and the constitution.
Maryland University law professor Qiu Hongda pointed out that according to different political environments, the Chinese authorities will use policy to substitute for the law. During the past "Strike hard campaign", they adopted fast judging and fast decisions that resulted in people being killed unjustly.
Qin Hongda said, "Revoking the power of approving the death penalty is necessary because it is useless for people to appeal to the local courts, and the Supreme Court is relatively cautious in giving death penalty. Therefore revoking the power can cause a decrease in executions. However, there is still too much capital punishment in China."
A principal of the Supreme Court recently expressed that a decision about revoking the power to approve the death penalty has been made, and the central government has already agreed to the Supreme Court adding three re-approval courts and about four hundred judges.
China is one of the countries with the highest number of death sentences and executions in the world. Although the exact number cannot be confirmed, human rights activists estimate that the number of people executed reaches several thousands per year. Some local courts abuse the use of death penalty due to their inability to implement law and corruption issues.
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