Mafia kingpin Liu Yong was sentenced to death and executed yesterday, despite doubts over his confession, in a ruling that marked the first time the Supreme Court has circumvented China's two-trial criminal law system.
Immediately after the sentencing, Liu was sent to a crematorium where he was administered a lethal injection in a mobile execution van, officials said.
"Liu Yong was executed in an execution van through lethal injection," said an official surnamed Zhang at the crematorium at Jinzhou city, Liaoning province.
It took about 40 minutes from the time Liu arrived at the crematorium to the time he was pronounced dead, she said.
The State Supreme Court said in a statement after its verdict that Liu had been sentenced "for the crime of willfully causing harm."
"He should also be punished for a series of other crimes, and it was decided that the death sentence should be implemented," the decision, carried by Xinhua news agency, said.
Liu was originally sentenced to death in April last year, but during his appeal it was revealed that his confession had been extracted through torture and in August this year he was given a two-year reprieve by the Liaoning high court.
A reprieve on a death sentence often results in life imprisonment.
Liu's retrial, which began on Thursday, marks the first time in the history of the People's Republic of China that the Supreme Court has bypassed the two-trial criminal law system and issued a different ruling.
Evidence collected from forced confessions are inadmissible under Chinese law, but Monday's ruling suggested that the court felt there was enough additional evidence to warrant Liu's death in accordance with the first ruling.
Court transcripts obtained by the state-run China Central Television had no mention of torture or forced confession.
Liu was initially convicted on 32 charges including racketeering, extortion, premeditated assault and illegal possession of firearms in a case linked to a series of trials that effectively brought down the government of Shenyang city, the capital of Liaoning, in 2000.
He was accused of amassing 600 million yuan (US$72.5 million) in illegally gained assets.
Using the Jiayang Group as a business cover for his activities, Liu allegedly bought off over 500 government, judicial and police officials to run huge rackets in Shenyang real estate and tobacco markets.
In related cases, former Shen-yang mayor Mu Suixin was sentenced to death and given a two-year reprieve in 2001, and former vice mayor Ma Xiangdong was sentenced to death and executed in December 2000.
Scores of other officials and mafia figures were given capital punishment or sentenced to death with reprieves in related trials.
Liu was formerly a delegate to the Shenyang People's Congress.
The retrial came after massive public opinion decried the high court's reprieve and as the central government expressed eagerness to crack down harder on corruption.
At the time the August ruling was deemed just and fair when read out at Liu's earlier appeal, with judges citing a confession by police that Liu was brutally tortured while in custody.
"There are two main reasons for the verdict change, one is the evidence was not obtained carefully, and the other is that the evidence was flawed," Liu Liming, a judge at the Liaoning high court, told the Beijing Youth Daily in August.
In a market in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, customers flock to Ache Moussa’s stall to have their long plaits smeared with a special paste in an age-old ritual. Each strand of hair, from the root to the end, is slathered in a traditional mixture of cherry seeds, cloves and chebe seeds, the most important ingredient of all. Users say the recipe makes their hair grow longer and more lustrous. Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people turn away from commercial cosmetics. Moussa applies the mixture and shapes the client’s locks into a gourone — a traditional hairstyle consisting of
The US yesterday wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to enhance and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China. The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings —
‘ONE FELL SWOOP’: Overturning a landmark ruling that said judges should defer to experts would ‘cause a massive shock to the legal system,’ a dissenting opinion said Prosecutors overstepped in charging Jan. 6, 2021, rioters with obstruction for trying to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election, the US Supreme Court said on Friday, throwing hundreds of cases into doubt, while another controversial ruling struck down 40 years of legal precedent on federal agencies’ ability to regulate critical issues. The matter was brought to the court through an appeal by former police officer Joseph Fischer, a supporter of former US president Donald Trump who entered the Capitol with hundreds of others in 2021. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said prosecutors’ interpretation of the law would “criminalize
‘APOCALYPTIC : An UN official said that Lebanon was ‘the flashpoint beyond all flashpoints,’ and a conflict that involved it would draw in Syria and other nations Israel on Wednesday said that it does not want war in Lebanon, but could send its neighbor “back to the Stone Age.” The border between the two countries has seen daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants since the attack on Israel by Hezbollah’s ally Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which triggered the war in Gaza. Fears those exchanges could escalate have grown in the past few weeks as cross-border attacks intensified and after Israel revealed it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive, prompting new threats from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said