In a major step to safeguard human rights, the Supreme People's
Court is expected to assume all powers to review and approve death
sentences from January 1.
Shen Deyong, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, made
the announcement on Friday at a session of the Standing Committee
of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature.
A draft of an amendment to the Organic Law on the People's
Courts was submitted on Friday to the NPC Standing Committee and
will be discussed by legislators in panels on Saturday.
Voting on the proposed amendment will probably take place on
Tuesday, the final day of the current session.
The Organic Law on the People's Courts authorizes higher
people's courts at provincial, municipal and autonomous region
levels to review death sentences involving murder, rape, robbery,
explosion and other serious violations of public security.
But death sentences in other types of cases, economic crimes for
example, must still be approved by the Supreme People's Court.
It is necessary to revise the stipulation in the death sentence
approval system to ensure the consistent administration of justice,
Supreme People's Court President Xiao Yang said.
"Cases in which the death sentence has been issued should be
submitted to the Supreme People's Court for approval except in
those cases, in which the judgments were issued by the Supreme
People's Court itself," the proposed revision states.
Normally, laws to be approved by the NPC Standing Committee
require three rounds of discussions before a vote is taken.
In fact, a revision to the Criminal Procedure Law in 1996 and
the Criminal Law amendment in 1997 both had clear stipulations
requiring death sentences to be approved by the Supreme People's
Court. But such stipulations have not been officially
implemented.
A nationwide criminal trial work conference is expected to be
held by the end of this year to prepare for the reform.
The Supreme People's Court and higher courts at the provincial,
municipal and autonomous region levels have already taken steps in
preparation for the move.
Starting in July, all appeals in death sentence cases were
required to be heard in open session.
In the past, provincial, municipal and autonomous region courts
normally approved death sentences themselves after reviewing legal
documents.
The Supreme People's Court has also added three criminal
tribunals to be in charge of death sentence reviews.
Also on Friday, NPC Standing Committee members heard reports on
discussions of a draft of the anti-money-laundering law, a draft
revision to the property law and draft changes of an amendment to
the Law on the Protection of Minors.
(China Daily October 28, 2006)