China's secret execution rate revealed

[sasha031]

Death-penalty system under fire as academic reports 8,000 killed yearly

Most of the executions are carried out with a bullet to the head, although higher-ranking people in bigger cities are sometimes executed by lethal injection.The number of executions in China is officially a state secret. But the new estimate from academic specialists, based on information provided by local officials and judges, is likely the most accurate figure yet provided.The information was disclosed yesterday by Liu Renwen, an expert on criminal law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who said that he believes it is accurate.

The total number of executions in the rest of the world -- led by Iran, Vietnam, the United States and Saudi Arabia -- is usually about 400 to 500 annually, according to human-rights groups.Mr. Liu said the number in China has dropped by 50 per cent since a new criminal code was introduced in 1997. But reform of the death-penalty system has been stalled by resistance from local bureaucrats.China's death-penalty record has come under increasing criticism in recent years, not only from international human-rights groups but also from Chinese legal experts and the Chinese media. There has been growing debate in China on the subject, especially after a recent flurry of revelations that innocent people have been convicted or executed in some cases.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060228.CHINA28/TPStory/TPInternational/