Two Convicts Executed by Lethal Injection in NE China

Home>>Life

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, November 21, 2001

Two Convicts Executed by Lethal Injection in NE China

Two convicts were executed by lethal injection Tuesday for the first time in northeast China's Liaoning Province, as China is one of the few countries in the world to adopt the new way of execution which is cheaper, more efficient and humane and less traumatic than gunshots.

Two convicts were executed by lethal injection Tuesday for the first time in northeast China's Liaoning Province, officials said.

The convicts were executed in a room specially designed for thepurpose at the intermediate people's court of this provincial capital.

The court made the disclosure at a press conference here without elaborating on the identities of the convicts, citing the preference of their families.

The death penalty in China is usually carried out by shooting.

The country's amended criminal procedure law in 1997 made executions by lethal injection a legitimate option.

Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province in southwest China, became the first Chinese city to try the new method in March 1998, followed by Wuhan, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Luoyang and other cities.

The new way of execution is cheaper, more efficient and humane,and has been welcomed by convicts as well as their families, courtofficials said.

China is one of the few countries in the world to adopt lethal injection for executions, together with the United States and others, the officials said.

Starting of lethal injection in China

In 1996, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, revised and further perfected the Criminal Procedural Law, which was formulated in 1979, in which lethal injections were included into China's legal clauses for the first time and became effective on January 1st 1997.

On March 28 of 1998, China's first trial of execution by injection was conducted in Kunming, capital city of southwest China's Yunnan Province.

Lethal Injection to Be Used Nationwide for Capital Punishment in China: Top Judge