CHINA. SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW DEATH SENTENCES ISSUED BY LOWER COURTS

April 3, 2006: responding to intense public criticism over the high rate of executions, China's apex court established three new criminal tribunals to review certain types of death sentence passed by provincial courts.
The new criminal tribunals under the Supreme People's Court began working on April 1.
They were firstly to begin reviewing cases and giving their opinions. "They do not yet formally have the right to review and make final decisions on death sentence cases," a consultant to the apex court, Chen Guangzhong said.
He declined to say when the three tribunals would formally regain that power.
Staff for the three tribunals, who were undergoing a month of training in Beijing, had been selected from various regional courts through a series of rigorous examination processes.
The Supreme People's Court currently reviewed and made final decisions on some types of death penalty cases, including in economic crime, but gave the power to provincial courts to rule on certain types of death penalty cases.
It announced a decision in October 2005 to take back the power from provincial courts in the near future.
The move appeared to be a response to frequent media reports, which exposed wrongful death penalty sentences, sparking public debate. (Sources: Xinhua, 03/04/2006)