19 January 2010 :
British newspaper the Independent ran a report about a dozen “death buses” in use in the People’s Republic of China. The buses were purpose built so that executions can be carried out by lethal injection in even the most remote provinces.The travelling vehicles were also necessary because of the progressive abandonment of the execution method of a pistol shot to the head by the military. The change was introduced on the insistence of the military. Many of those sentenced to death in China are HIV positive drug traffickers who risk infecting the executioners with their blood.
The Chinese authorities support lethal injection, which the ‘buses’ carry to even the most remote places. It is cleaner, safer, less traumatic for the prisoner and more useful as a deterrent.
The “death buses” used up till now were built by a firm in Chingqing specialising in the making of armour plated cars, ambulances and police vehicles.
A director of marketing, identified by the Independent as Mr Zhang, explained that the vehicle contains a stretcher on which the accused comes tied before they are injected with the lethal substance.
The vehicle also has a video camera that films and records the execution in case of later procedural disputes.
(Sources: ANSA, 24/03/2009)
