Post by CCADP on Aug 15, 2005 6:16:42 GMT -5
China pressured on death penalty
The Chinese government is under pressure to scrap the death penalty for
nonviolent crimes so that corrupt officials fleeing abroad can be more
easily extradited.
Chinese legal scholars have called on the government to modify the law so
that foreign courts can be confident that fugitives returned to China will
not face execution, according to a report in the official media Saturday.
However, some legal experts believe it would take more than dropping the
death penalty for economic crimes to streamline the return of suspects.
"It will increase the probability that other countries will be willing to
extradite suspects," said Donald Clarke, a professor at George Washington
University Law School and an expert on China's legal system.
"But they will still have to overcome the obstacle, certain to be raised
by defense counsel, of significant torture in China in breach of the
United Nations Convention Against Torture."
China's ruling Communist Party has been embarrassed by the exodus of
corrupt officials fleeing the country, often after embezzling large sums
of public money. The Commerce Ministry said in a report last year that
4,000 officials suspected of corruption had fled overseas in recent years.
In perhaps the biggest case of this type, 3 managers from the Bank of
China branch at Kaiping in Guangdong Province fled to the United States
via Canada in October 2001 after stealing more than $485 million from the
bank. One of the managers, Yu Zhendong, has been returned to China but the
others remain at large.
This year, another Bank of China manager, Gao Shan, disappeared overseas
from the northeastern city of Harbin after transferring $123 million of
the bank's funds into offshore accounts.
Part of the problem for China is that it does not have extradition
treaties with countries where corrupt officials often seek refuge.
Extradition can occur without these treaties, but it can be more
complicated.
This month, the official Xinhua press agency quoted Chu Huaizhi, a legal
expert from Beijing University, as saying that China had been unable to
negotiate extradition treaties with countries including the United States,
Japan and Canada. Part of the reason is that these countries are hesitant
to sign treaties while China applies the death penalty for nonviolent
crime.
According to the official media, Chinese courts can impose the death
penalty for almost 70 offenses, many of them nonviolent.
The former head of the Bank of China's Hong Kong unit, Liu Jinbao,
received a suspended death sentence on Friday for embezzlement and
bribery. Suspended sentences are not usually carried out.
Human rights groups estimate that China executed at least 3,400 people in
2004.
China's top leaders, including Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, strongly defend
the death penalty. Many ordinary Chinese, angered by widespread graft,
also support execution as a deterrent to corruption. However, there have
been signs of increasing flexibility, with Beijing prepared at times to
guarantee foreign governments that fugitives would be spared the death
penalty as a condition of their return to China.
"In terms of extradition, the death penalty has been a big problem,
particularly for the Europeans," said Steve Vickers, a former senior Hong
Kong police officer who is now president of the private investigation
company, International Risk. "Now they are opening the door a little."
The United States returned Yu, the former Bank of China manager, to China
in April last year after reaching a deal in which the Chinese authorities
agreed that he would not be executed, tortured or jailed for more than 12
years.
(source: International Herald Tribune)
The Chinese government is under pressure to scrap the death penalty for
nonviolent crimes so that corrupt officials fleeing abroad can be more
easily extradited.
Chinese legal scholars have called on the government to modify the law so
that foreign courts can be confident that fugitives returned to China will
not face execution, according to a report in the official media Saturday.
However, some legal experts believe it would take more than dropping the
death penalty for economic crimes to streamline the return of suspects.
"It will increase the probability that other countries will be willing to
extradite suspects," said Donald Clarke, a professor at George Washington
University Law School and an expert on China's legal system.
"But they will still have to overcome the obstacle, certain to be raised
by defense counsel, of significant torture in China in breach of the
United Nations Convention Against Torture."
China's ruling Communist Party has been embarrassed by the exodus of
corrupt officials fleeing the country, often after embezzling large sums
of public money. The Commerce Ministry said in a report last year that
4,000 officials suspected of corruption had fled overseas in recent years.
In perhaps the biggest case of this type, 3 managers from the Bank of
China branch at Kaiping in Guangdong Province fled to the United States
via Canada in October 2001 after stealing more than $485 million from the
bank. One of the managers, Yu Zhendong, has been returned to China but the
others remain at large.
This year, another Bank of China manager, Gao Shan, disappeared overseas
from the northeastern city of Harbin after transferring $123 million of
the bank's funds into offshore accounts.
Part of the problem for China is that it does not have extradition
treaties with countries where corrupt officials often seek refuge.
Extradition can occur without these treaties, but it can be more
complicated.
This month, the official Xinhua press agency quoted Chu Huaizhi, a legal
expert from Beijing University, as saying that China had been unable to
negotiate extradition treaties with countries including the United States,
Japan and Canada. Part of the reason is that these countries are hesitant
to sign treaties while China applies the death penalty for nonviolent
crime.
According to the official media, Chinese courts can impose the death
penalty for almost 70 offenses, many of them nonviolent.
The former head of the Bank of China's Hong Kong unit, Liu Jinbao,
received a suspended death sentence on Friday for embezzlement and
bribery. Suspended sentences are not usually carried out.
Human rights groups estimate that China executed at least 3,400 people in
2004.
China's top leaders, including Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, strongly defend
the death penalty. Many ordinary Chinese, angered by widespread graft,
also support execution as a deterrent to corruption. However, there have
been signs of increasing flexibility, with Beijing prepared at times to
guarantee foreign governments that fugitives would be spared the death
penalty as a condition of their return to China.
"In terms of extradition, the death penalty has been a big problem,
particularly for the Europeans," said Steve Vickers, a former senior Hong
Kong police officer who is now president of the private investigation
company, International Risk. "Now they are opening the door a little."
The United States returned Yu, the former Bank of China manager, to China
in April last year after reaching a deal in which the Chinese authorities
agreed that he would not be executed, tortured or jailed for more than 12
years.
(source: International Herald Tribune)