China executes murderer after public urges tougher sentence

Sep 29, 2011, 10:53 GMT

Beijing - A convicted murderer was executed on Thursday after a Chinese court overturned a suspended death sentence that was deemed too soft, in a controversial move prompted by public calls for his execution, state media said on Thursday.

'The 29-year-old culprit Li Changkui was executed in the south-western province of Yunnan after the Supreme Court approved the death penalty over him,' the Xinhua news agency quoted court officials as saying.

Li's execution came less than five weeks after the Yunnan Provincial Higher People's Court sentenced him for the second time on August 22, when provincial prosecutors argued that an appeal sentence by the same court in March had been 'too lenient.'

Li deserved the death penalty without reprieve because 'his motivation was evil, his conduct was cruel and the consequences were serious,' the agency quoted a court statement after the sentencing in August.

The previous sentence by the Yunnan higher court, which suspended the first death sentence by a lower court, had 'triggered a cyber frenzy as internet users called for a harsher punishment,' it said.

Subject to good behaviour in prison during the two-year suspension, suspended death sentences are normally commuted to sentences of up to 25 years or life in prison.

Reports said Li confessed to raping and killing a 19-year-old woman who had rejected his marriage proposal, before killing her 3-year-old brother, in May 2009.

The relatives had not forgiven Li and compensation from Li's family was 'not voluntary,' the reports said.

The China Daily newspaper quoted Wang Yong, a lawyer for the victims' family, as saying 'Justice has been done' through the court's decision in August.

More than 200 people attended the retrial, including several local politicians, reports said.

But China's Global Times newspaper questioned the wisdom of a court retrying a case because of public opinion rather than legal necessity.

'A certain detachment from the public is necessary for the rule of law,' the newspaper said in a commentary.

China's ruling Communist Party appears to be paying ever greater attention to public opinion, including internet-based campaigns, as it strives to maintain its grip on power.

China is believed to execute more people annually than the rest of the world put together, but statistics on death sentences and executions are kept secret.

In an annual report in March, London-based Amnesty International said it recorded 527 reported executions in China last year, adding that China was believed to have executed thousands more.

China retains the death penalty for dozens of offences, including drug trafficking, serious corruption and other non-violent crimes.