Juridics: China: Law scholars 100-strong in China call for ending local courts power to impose death penalty

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A report by Yang Ming,"Call for China's Supreme Court to curb death powers of local courts" (Sep4,2k6) on Voice of America via Epoch Times, details the formation of a group of signatories to what amounts to a formal public petition by legal scholars and experienced lawyers aware of common practices in China's lower level courts.

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.

The public petition to the Supreme Court seems somewhat unusual to Western eyes, if no actual case is being presented. However, judiciaries around the world vary considerably in standard practice, so this may not be so unprecendented a move as it appears.

A certain urgency obtains at present, according to reporter Yang Ming. "Attorney Zhang Sizhi, who is called "The Chinese Attorney's Conscience" ... 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."

Asia > China

While the death penalty is said to be widely abused by lower courts, giving China one of the h+est capital-punishment rates in the world, there is another issue involved. That issue, when looked at from the standpoint of uniformity of penalties thru-out the vast population and regions of China, suggesting a within-China legal universalism, there are disparities. However, evaluated from the standpoint of regional differentials (regionalism) or local differentials (localism), such as the variations in death-penalty laws and practices from state to state in the USA which amounts to regionalism, as compared to Canada which is universalist regarding the lack of any death-penalty provision whatsoever, still it would seem that China is in a legal tangle here. It seems from Yang Ming's article that neither universalism, regionalism, or localism actually function as strict criteria. The article seems to say that judgments and applciations of the death penality are episodic and subject to arbitrariness when local courts make a decsion in one case, as compared to another.

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."

Overall, the public petition of the 100 legal scholars and experienced attorneys, a "call" directed to China's Supreme Court is a very good thing. It may lead to the solution to the historic problem of powers of courts at various levels, and thus of the appeal process from one level to another. refWrite will try to keep an eye on this theme for further clarification in future.

-- Owlb