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China Curbs Executions as Olympics Loom

Executions down 40% in runup to 2008

By Greg Atwan,  Newser User

Posted Jun 9, 2007 10:05 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Capital punishment is on the decline in China, a country responsible for more than half of the world's executions. Beijing doesn't release figures, but human rights watchers say death penalty cases are down as much as 40% over the last six years. Sinologists reckon much of that drop represents an image manicure as the Beijing Olympics approach.

But the move may reflect broader ferment in a criminal justice system that almost never acquits defendants, and which counts political dissidents among the tens of thousands it puts to death each year. Executions are expected to drop further in 2007, as China's Supreme Court assumes oversight of every capital case.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivers an opening remarks at the opening ceremony of the African Development Bank's annual meetings Wednesday May 16, 2007 in Shanghai, China. China has already forgiven more than US$1 billion in debt to it held by African countries, and is estimated to have provided billions of...
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivers an opening remarks at the opening ceremony of the African Development Bank's annual meetings Wednesday May 16, 2007 in Shanghai, China. China has already forgiven more...   (Associated Press)
Chinese leaders, from right, Chinese Vice Premier Huang Ju, former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and then Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Liangyu, are seen during a Shanghai delegation meeting at the National People's Congress in Beijing on March 6, 2004. With the ouster of Chen in September 2006 and the death...
Chinese leaders, from right, Chinese Vice Premier Huang Ju, former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and then Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Liangyu, are seen during a Shanghai delegation meeting at the National...   (Associated Press)
CORRECTS MONTH ** Chinese soldiers march through Tiananmen square in Beijing, China Monday June 4, 2007. June Fourth marks the 18th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, where hundreds of protesters were killed in 1989.The fullest possible accounting by the Chinese government of those killed,...
CORRECTS MONTH ** Chinese soldiers march through Tiananmen square in Beijing, China Monday June 4, 2007. June Fourth marks the 18th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square pro-democracy...   (Associated Press)
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China alters capital procedures
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China takes execution on the road
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China • death penalty • human rights • execution • 2008 Beijing Olympics • capital punishment • Olympic Games

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