EXTERNAL (for general distribution)AI Index: ASA 17/11/95

Distr: UA/SC

EXTRA 23/95 Death Sentences / Fear of Execution1 March 1995

PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINALiu Li

Yan Jingbing

Zhang Xianping

Chen Yun

Yin Zhihu

According to the "Liberation Daily" newspaper, on 24 February 1995, the Shanghai Municipal Intermediate People's Court sentenced five men to death for alleged crimes relating to robbery and murder. It is not clear from the report exactly which of the five men were convicted of murder, although all five were convicted of robbery.

It is also not known whether the five accused have appealed against their death sentences. Under Chinese law, the defendants have between three and 10 days after the passing of sentence to appeal to another court. If no appeal is lodged, their sentences should be automatically referred for review to the Shanghai Municipal High People's Court. This court must then rule on the appeal or review the case within one and a half months. This process can be accelerated and review of death sentences can take place within only a few days after the trial. Successful appeals are rare.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The death penalty is used extensively in China. For the first nine months of 1994, Amnesty International recorded 1486 death sentences and 1006 executions, although it believes these figures to be well below the actual number of death sentences and executions carried out. The increased use of the death penalty in China since the late 1980s occurs in the context of a continuing "anti-crime" campaign. Amnesty International is concerned that death sentences in China are meted out following trials which fall far short of international standards for fairness.

Defendants do not always have access to lawyers. In death penalty cases, lawyers, when available, have no more than one or two days to prepare a defence. Death sentences are often decided in advance of the trial by "adjudication committees" whose decision is seldom challenged by the courts. Chinese legal experts have in recent years criticized the practice of pre-trial verdicts, but it is reported to be still widespread.

Amnesty International is concerned that the death penalty appears to be a discriminatory punishment which tends to apply disproportionately to people of low social standing who have neither the social nor the political status enabling others to defend themselves against the accusations. Furthermore, cases have been reported in which death sentences were imposed on the basis of confessions extracted through coercion or torture.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send telegrams/telexes/faxes/express and airmail letters in English or Mandarin Chinese or your own language:

- expressing opposition to the death penalty in all cases as the ultimate form of cruel and inhuman punishment and as a violation of the right to life as guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

- urging that the death sentences passed on Liu Li, Yan Jingbing, Zhang Xianping, Chen Yun and Yin Zhihu be commuted.

APPEALS TO:

Mayor of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government

HUANG Ju Shizhang

Shanghaishi Renmin Zhengfu

30 Fuzhoulu

Shanghaishi 200002

People's Republic of China

Telexes: 333 15 SMERT (Please forward to Huang Ju Shizhang)

Telegrams: Mayor Huang Ju, Shanghai, China

Salutation: Dear Mayor

President of Shanghai Municipal High People's Court

HU Ruibang Yuanzhang

Shanghaishi Gaoji Renmin Fayuan

209 Fuzhoulu

Shanghaishi 200002

People's Republic of China

Telegrams: President of the Municipal High People's Court Hu Ruibang, Shanghai, China

Salutation: Dear President

COPIES TO:

Chief Editor, Liberation Daily

Jiefang Ribao

Liberation Daily

274 Hankou Lu

Shanghai Shi

People's Republic of China

and to diplomatic representatives of the People's Republic of China accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 29 April 1995.