By DPA
New York : Human Rights Watch has urged the Chinese government to suspend executions of criminals eligible for the death penalty as a goodwill gesture before the Olympic Summer Games in Beijing next year.
The New York-based group Monday said credible estimates put the number of executions in China at 7,500 a year, more than the combined number of executions from other countries.
The Beijing government has never provided official statistics on the death penalty, classifying them as state secrets and official media claimed the number of executions declined in 2007.
Many countries are abolishing the death penalty and advocates for its abolishment hold the annual World Day against the Death Penalty each Oct 10. Fewer than 70 countries, including the US, still enforce the death penalty.
Human Rights Watch asked China to declare a moratorium in honour of the Olympics as well as to support the international day. It called on China to take measures during the moratorium to sharply reduce executions and the number of crimes eligible for the death penalty and to make public the number of executions or those awaiting executions.
China should also institute changes in trial and appeal procedures to comply with international minimum standards of fairness in all cases where prosecutors demand capital punishment, the group said.
“As the world focuses on China’s poor human rights record in the run-up to the Olympics, the Chinese government could avoid further embarrassment by making a bold step to address its position as the world’s leading executioner of its own citizens,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Adams welcomed reports that the number of executions had decreased, but he said there is no substitute for transparency, fair trials, adequate defence counsel and judicial independence.
Human Rights Watch said the Chinese criminal justice system recognises neither the presumption of innocence nor the right to remain silent, and places sharp limits on defence counsel and the rights of the accused. It said torture is widely used to obtain confessions.
It also called on the International Olympics Committee to demand a moratorium on all executions during the Olympic Games.