Indiscriminate use of the death penalty

China executes, on average, 40 people every week, according to an Amnesty International Report, and throughout the 1990s condemned more of its citizens to death each year than the rest of the world put together. Amnesty recorded 2,088 death sentences and 1,263 confirmed executions in China in 1999, collating the figures from public reports. These figures are likely to be far below the actual number, as only a fraction are reported.

From 1990 to 1999, Amnesty International recorded 27,599 death sentences and 18,194 executions in China. "Many defendants most likely did not receive a fair trial and death penalties were carried out immediately after sentence was passed, thus denying the condemned the right to appeal," Amnesty said. Many defendants have been subject to torture to obtain a confession. Many may be illiterate and have little way of arguing their defense or understanding the process.

Many have been executed for being declared guilty of, what would be considered outside China, non-capital crimes: corruption, rape, embezzlement, tax-fraud and even on occasions such minor charges as the theft of a bicycle. Such capricious sentencing usually occurs during nationwide "anti-crime" and "anti-corruption" campaigns when regions and provinces are required to meet certain quotas in arrests and executions. In 1996, the Chinese Government "Strike Hard" campaign led to the execution of more than 4,000 people that year an average of 11 each day. Subversion and ethnic separatism are also crimes that warrant the death penalty, especially in East Turkestan (Xinjiang) and Tibet. An American tourist, Mike Melnyk, in Tibet during the current "Strike Hard" campaign in May 2001, reported two children in school uniforms, no older than sixteen (and one possibly even as young as twelve) being paraded through Shigatse town in open military trucks with other prisoners, prior to execution.

The number of capital offenses on China's law books has grown from 28 in 1979 to 74 in 1995. Since then, non-violent and economic crimes as speculation, bribery, and the forging of value-added tax receipts have been added to the list so that the current figure is probably around 90.

Most executions take place after sentencing rallies in front of massive crowds in sports stadiums and public squares. Prisoners are also paraded through the streets past thousands of people on the way to execution. Tens of thousands of arrested suspects and thousands assigned to "re-education or reform through labour" without charge or trial, have also been paraded at such rallies. The immediate families of the victims were, formerly, required to be present at the execution and to make a denouncement of the victim. This is no longer mandatory. However, the victim's family is still required to pay the cost of the bullet used in the execution.

In the ongoing "Strike Hard" campaign, public executions in Yunnan province were broadcast live on state television. Execution rallies in Shaanxi in April and May were reportedly attended by 1,800,000 spectators. At the Public Stadium in Chengdu on 23 June 2001, 54 people were executed in one day, before a capacity holiday crowd.

An Amnesty International press release dated July 6, 2001 described the latest round of "Strike Hard" executions as "nothing short of an execution frenzy". The press release stated that "At least 2,960 people have been sentenced to death and 1,781 executed in the last three months ... More people were executed in China in the last three months than in the rest of the world for the last three years." Yet, according to Amnesty these statistics are likely to be far below the actual number. "The figures above fall far below the actual number of death sentences and executions in China and are based on public reports which Amnesty International has monitored. Only a fraction of death sentences and executions carried out in China are publicly reported, with information selectively released by the relevant authorities. National statistics on the use of the death penalty remain a state secret."

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