FBIS3-26914
"drchi032_k_94012"
FBIS-CHI-94-032
Document Type:Daily Report
16 Feb 1994
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Political & Social
Crime and Punishment in the PRC
For 1-14 Feb
HK1502083594
HK1502083594
Article Type:BFN
[Editorial Report] The following is a compilation of
reports on crime, investigations, trials, sentencings, and other
judicial-related activities in the PRC monitored during the
period 1-14 February 1994. The source and mode of processing
are given in parentheses at the end of each entry.
As evidenced by the stories listed below, during the month
PRC crime reportage focused on corruption, economic crimes, and
the annual round of executions taking place around Spring
Festival.
CENTRAL
Twenty-two Chinese have been executed in the past few days
in
what has become a traditional clampdown ahead of the Lunar New
Year. A total of 13 people were executed in Shanghai on 1
February, all charged with murder and theft. Several more were
condemned to death or prison terms.
Nine criminals were executed on 29 January in Jinan, and two
bank employees were sentenced to death for corruption in Inner
Mongolia recently. (Hong Kong AFP in English 1028 GMT 2 Feb 94)
More than 200 Chinese have been executed since 1 January,
condemned for such crimes as murder, rape, drug trafficking, and
financial crimes.
The run-up to the Lunar New Year is traditionally used by
the
government to press the Chinese regional authorities to sentence
common-law criminals in order to avoid unrest during the festive
season. Amnesty International says it recorded 1,890 death
sentences and 1,079 executions in 1992, but believes these
numbers to be conservative. (Hong Kong AFP in English 0911 GMT
8 Feb 94)
In 1993 public security forces and border guards in Yunnan
and Guangxi took effective actions to crack down on firearms and
drug trafficking and smuggling. In the whole year, the public
security organs and border guards in these two provinces cracked
324 firearms trafficking cases, seizing 374 pieces of military
firearms. They also cracked 961 drug trafficking cases, seizing
812.3 kg of opium and 762.5 kg of heroin. The actions totally
destroyed 136 criminal gangs.
The public security organs and border guard units in these
two provinces transferred some 500 people from commanding organs
to replenish the troops on active duty. The border inspection
stations were on duty 24 hours a day, and strictly examined the
vehicles and personnel moving to the interior mainland.
On the afternoon of 22 December 1993, the border security
checkpoint in Mukang of Dehong Autonomous Prefecture discovered
46.5 kg of heroin divided among three vehicles moving through
the border to the interior area.
In order to mobilize the masses, the public security and
border guard forces in Yunnan and Guangxi also dispatched a
large number of police officers to border villages to publicize
the government's policy on capturing smuggled drugs and firearms
and to build up the police-civilian security network. According
to Yunnan's incomplete statistics, in 1993 the masses provided
148 pieces of information for the public security organs and
assisted the police force in 193 actions. (Beijing RENMIN RIBAO
in Chinese 1 Feb 94 p 3)
PROVINCIAL
Beijing
According to data provided by procuratorial organs in
Beijing
Municipality, in 1993 the municipal procuratorial organs handled
1,466 corruption and other economic criminal cases, and placed
844 cases on file for investigation and prosecution, including
618 corruption and bribe-taking cases, which accounted for 73.2
percent of the economic criminal cases. One ministerial-level,
10 bureau-level, and 48 section-level corrupt officials were
investigated and prosecuted.
Last August, procuratorial cadres in Beijing launched an
unprecedented anticorruption campaign and they cracked a large
number of major corruption and bribe-taking cases in party and
government institutions, law enforcement institutions, banking
institutions, and economic management institutions. Fourteen
major corruption and bribery cases involving an amount of over 1
million yuan were placed on file for investigation and
prosecution, 38 corruption cases arising in law enforcement and
judicial organs were handled, 128 criminal cases involved
officials in various party and government institutions, and 37
criminal cases involved personnel of banking institutions.
The procuratorial organs achieved such marked results
because
the chief procurators at all levels personally organized and
directed the handling of all major and serious cases. The
leaders of the municipal procuratorate personally took charge of
the investigation and prosecution of 22 major cases involving
over 1 million yuan of ill-gotten money or involving cadres at
and above the bureau level. (Beijing RENMIN RIBAO in Chinese 1
Feb 94 p 3)
Public security organs in Beijing Municipality achieved
remarkable results in using the news media to issue "wanted"
circulars for criminals at large. In 1993 a total of 428
criminals were arrested through such means, which helped crack
520 major criminal cases. (Hong Kong ZHONGGUO TONGXUN SHE in
Chinese 0600 GMT 14 Feb 94)
Fujian
In 1993, Fujian's public security organs cracked a total 62
drug- related cases, captured over 220 drug traffickers, and
seized 57.2 kg of drugs, as well as over 1.5 million yuan in
profits from drug deals.
Over recent years, drug-trafficking rings and lawbreakers
outside China have opened secret sea smuggling routes into
Fujian. Driven by high profits, some wrongdoers inside China
are willing to risk their lives and engage in drug trafficking.
Since the beginning of this year public security organs of all
prefectures, cities, and major counties have stepped up efforts
in deploying antidrug police forces and setting up special
investigation organs for cracking drug-related cases, while
leaders of public security organs at all levels have attached
great importance to such investigations.
From May to June 1993, public security organs across the
province carried out a joint operation and cracked six
"ice"-manufacturing dens set up by Taiwan drug dealers in
Fuzhou, Putian, Quanzhou, and Zhangzhou. On 8 May, the Quanzhou
public security organs cracked a drug-trafficking ring involving
drug dealers and lawbreakers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the
mainland, and seized 36 kg of drugs and heroin. Meanwhile,
public security organs in all localities have made great efforts
to trace drug sources of drug addicts, and successfully smashed
a number of secret dens which "used drug trafficking to finance
drug taking." (Fuzhou FUJIAN RIBAO in Chinese 23 Jan 94 p 7)
At a 15 January news briefing, He Xiaofang, vice president
of
the Fujian Provincial People's Court, announced eight cases of
serious economic crime out of which 12 people were been
sentenced to death, death with reprieve, life imprisonment, and
fixed terms of imprisonment.
The criminals sentenced to death included: The former first
section head of the Foreign Trade Center Group, who embezzled
public funds totalling over 640,000 yuan and $170,000, plus
another $274,000 by various means; a former employee of the
Hushi Credit Cooperative of the Putian Branch of the China
Agricultural Bank who embezzled over 240,000 yuan; and a former
cadre of the Yongan Branch of the China People's Construction
Bank, who embezzled 180,000 yuan.
The criminals sentenced to death with reprieved included: A
former purchaser of the Shaowu Textile Factory, who embezzled
230,000 yuan of public funds and accepted bribes; a former
credit clerk of the Planning and Credit Section of the Fuan
Branch of the China Industrial and Commercial Bank, who
embezzled over 220,000 yuan; and a secretary of the party branch
of Gaodian village in Xiamen, who embezzled over 309,000 yuan.
(Fuzhou FUJIAN RIBAO in Chinese 16 Jan 1994 p 1)
Eighteen criminals in Changle and Pingtan Counties involved
in the smuggling of people have been sentenced to one to five
years of imprisonment. The 18 criminals were all "snakeheads."
This move is aimed at curbing the activities of illegal
emigration from the province and is the biggest campaign for
this purpose since the beginning of 1994. Officials have
revealed that the province will continue its severe crackdown on
these criminal activities. (Beijing ZHONGGUO XINWEN SHE in
English 1532 GMT 9 Feb 94)
Guangdong
Cao Zidong, deputy director of the Public Security
Department
of Guangdong Province, said on 1 February 1994 that the public
security organs last year arrested over 110,000 criminal
offenders of all types, an increase of more than 30 percent over
the previous year. He also said they cracked over 80,000
criminal cases, including more than 40,000 major cases.
Cao Zidong said: Since late December the public security
organs have arrested over 2,000 train and bus robbers, and have
also arrested more than 18,000 criminals. In this period,
railway and highway robbery cases decreased sharply, and
criminal cases of other types also decreased to a certain
degree. (Beijing ZHONGGUO XINWEN SHE in Chinese 1248 GMT 1 Feb
94)
Guangdong courts at all levels have increased the crackdown
on car and train robberies, dealing with some 2,200 cases in
1993. Of the 4,000 criminals involved, 3,040 were given
sentences of five years, or even more, including life-in-prison
and death sentences, according to Xu Liang, Guangdong Provincial
Higher People's Court vice president.
Through hearing the aforesaid cases, the court believed that
car and train robbery cases in Guangdong were marked by four
characteristics: First, cases in this category continued to
rise. Second, there was an increase in the incidence of car and
train robberies organized by gangs. Third, there was a growth
in heinous armed robbery cases, with homicide involved. Fourth,
many bandits ran away with help of cars, and they had
intelligent and technical ways of committing crimes. (Hong Kong
TA KUNG PAO in Chinese 3 Feb 94 p 4)
Over the past month or so, public security organs in
Shanwei City, Guangdong, cracked 16 criminal cases of train and
road banditry, arrested 38 train bandits and highwaymen, smashed
four criminal rings, arrested 19 ring members, and seized three
motorcycles, two walking tractors, and a number of tools for
committing crimes. In the small hours of 6 January, patrolmen
from the Meilong Public Security Sub-Bureau in Haifeng County
and from Shanwei City Public Security Bureau arrested nine
suspects, including Lin Zhenguo along the Meilong section of the
Guangzhou-Shanwei highway, who were about to commit robbery.
(Hong Kong ZHONGGUO TONGXUN SHE in Chinese 0600 GMT 14 Feb 94)
At a news briefing held in Guangzhou on 2 February, Zeng
Tiangui, section head of the Guangdong Provincial Public
Security Department, disclosed that some lawbreakers outside the
territory had engaged in smuggling and drug-trafficking
activities under the cover of running waste material purchasing
centers. A major case was ferreted out in Huizhou on 17
December 1993 which involved a gang of seven people who stole
more than 1,000 kg of communication cables and disposed of them
through a local waste material purchasing center. It has been
reported that steel products, and even guns and munitions, have
also been stolen and sold to such purchasing centers. (Beijing
ZHONGGUO XINWEN SHE 0700 GMT 2 Feb 94)
Guangxi
Beihai City recently cracked a major bribery case involving
two cadres at the department level and three other people who
accepted cash and gifts totalling more than 5 million yuan.
Huang Qilong, Beihai City's Haicheng District deputy
magistrate, and Zhang Guosong, Beihai City Urban Planning Bureau
Land Management Department chief, accepted bribes totalling more
than 1 million yuan for approving a major land development
project.
The five people involved in the case have now been arrested
in accordance with the law. (Nanning Guangxi People's Radio
Network in Mandarin 1130 GMT 8 Feb 94)
Guizhou
The provincial political and legal affairs committee held a
news briefing on 31 January at which it announced that in
January 1994, a total of 2,020 fugitives were captured and 335
criminal cases were cracked across the province.
The public security organs of Guiyang City and Liupanshui
City smashed three drug trafficking syndicates and seized more
than 3.9 kg of heroin.
The Guiyang City Railroad Public Security Department also
captured two fugitives who escaped after murdering two
accounting clerks in Guiyang on 8 January. (Guiyang Guizhou
People's Radio Network in Mandarin 2300 GMT 31 Jan 94)
Henan
The people's courts at all levels across the province held
public sentence pronouncement rallies on 25-31 January 1994, and
a batch of criminals involved in some major and serious crimes
have been punished.
The provincial higher people's court yesterday held a news
briefing at which Xu Guoping, provincial higher people's court
vice president disclosed: Over the past two months, people's
courts at all levels across the province have tried a total of
404 criminal cases and sentenced a total of 719 criminals, of
whom 464 people have been condemned to death, death with
reprieve, or life imprisonment, and 255 people have been
sentenced to 10 or more years' imprisonment. Over the past few
days several criminals have been executed with a bullet to the
head. (Zhengzhou Henan People's Radio Network in Mandarin 2300
GMT 31 Jan 94)
Liaoning
The Shenyang municipal authorities have recently
investigated
several economic crimes within party and government
organizations, law-enforcement departments, and in
administrative and economic management departments. The
municipal anticorruption bureau recently publicized 12 such
cases.
The cases involved several leading cadres, including Ma
Shiteng, a deputy bureau-level director in the municipal bureau
of public security; Yuan Zhiguang, the manager of the Trust and
Investment Company Ltd. under the municipal Industrial and
Commercial Bank; two division heads of the municipal Bureau of
Public Health; and the director of the Bureau of Construction in
Liazhong County. (Beijing ZHONGGUO XINWEN SHE in English 1459
GMT 2 Feb 94)
Ningxia
On 22 January 1994, the Yinchuan City Intermediate People's
Court sentenced five criminals to death and three others to life
imprisonment.
Between February and June 1993, Liu Wenqing and others broke
into the homes in Yinchuan and stole goods and cash totalling
44,842 yuan. On 8 September 1993, Li Wei started a quarrel with
his colleague Wang Changan and then stabbed him to death. On 28
October 1993, Ji Zhifei stabbed his wife Tang Ruihua to death
following a row with her. On 4 July 1993, following their
divorce, Ma Bentong wounded six persons and killed another of
his wife's family. On 10 September 1993, Fu Jun and his two
friends started a fight with a man called Xing and beat him to
death following a quarrel. (Yinchuan NINGXIA RIBAO in Chinese 2
Feb 94 p 1)
Shaanxi
The Ankang Railway Public Security Department recently
cracked a major transprovincial robbery case and arrested four
criminals. Since December 1992, these four criminals had stolen
gold, diamond rings, gold ornaments, and goods off of trains in
35 counties in Hubei and Shaanxi Provinces, worth more than
140,000 yuan. (Xian Shaanxi People's Radio Network in Mandarin
0010 GMT 7 Feb 94)
Authorities in Shaanxi Province have executed a 31-year-old
axe murderer who, spurned by the woman he loved, chopped up her
and eight of her relatives. A Shaanxi court sentenced Cheng
Tingbin to death on 2 February, and the execution was carried
out immediately. (Hong Kong AFP in English 0847 GMT 8 Feb 94)
Shanghai
Prosecutors at various levels recently brought 100
corruption
cases to court, in which 110 people were charged with such
economic crimes as corruption, bribe-taking, and embezzlement of
public funds. A number of responsible officials in party,
government, law enforcement, and financial management
institutions were involved in these cases and were prosecuted.
The ill-gotten money involved in these cases amounted to 24.3
million yuan. (Hong Kong ZHONGGUO TONGXUN SHE in Chinese 0826
GMT 1 Feb 94)
Shanxi
On the morning of 26 January a mass rally was held at the
Workers' Cultural Palace in Taiyuan to announce the sentencing
of criminal offenders. Lenient treatments were given to 39
offenders who showed repentance and rendered meritorious
service, and 18 of them were released immediately. However,
severe punishments were meted out to 20 criminals in 13 cases as
they obstinately stuck to the wrong course.
Three of them were sentenced to death and were immediately
executed. Four were sentenced to death with a two-year
reprieve, and the other four were sentenced to life
imprisonment. A 19-year-old murderer, who was executed, killed
his grandfather with a knife and then sold the television set,
washing machine, and electric fan from his grandfather's home to
a pawn shop for 630 yuan. (Taiyuan SHANXI RIBAO in Chinese 27
Jan 94 p 1)
Police in Changzhi City, Shanxi Province have cracked a
major
drug-trafficking case, seizing 325 kg of caffeine and putting
two drug dealers under arrest.
The two convicts, who disguised drugs as chicken feed,
confessed that they had trafficked drugs five times since the
beginning of 1993. At present, the case is under further
investigation. (Hong Kong ZHONGGUO TONGXUN SHE in Chinese 0903
GMT 11 Feb 94)
Xian
From 22 to 25 December 1993, various people's courts of Xian
sentenced 32 criminals to death and ordered their execution.
The criminals included Wang Yaoping, who stabbed a man to
death outside a ballroom on 12 March 1992 following a row with
him over a dancing partner, and Liu Jingsuo, Li Wumin, Qiao
Yonghong, and Zhang Xianfeng, who stole and destroyed
transformers and other farm equipment in Xian, Baoji, Weinan and
Xianyang from October 1988 to January 1992, causing huge losses.
(Xian SHAANXI RIBAO in Chinese 29 Dec 93 p 1)
Yunnan
Party organizations and leading cadres have achieved good
results in self-examination and self-correction. So far, 10,682
leading cadres have taken part in special meetings on criticism
and self-criticism, accounting for 87 percent of the total
number of such cadres. Over 277 of the 470 leading cadres who
have second positions in economic bodies have resigned their
posts, and 741 leading cadres have accepted gifts and valuable
securities, involving a total amount of 193,912 yuan. (Kunming
Yunnan People's Radio Network in Mandarin 1000 GMT 7 Feb 94)
On 2 February, He Zhanjun, chief procurator of the Yunnan
Provincial People's Procuratorate, announced that Shu Kaitai,
former deputy director of the provincial personnel department,
and He Zizhong, former chairman of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference of Dehong Dai-Jingpo
Autonomous Prefecture, were arrested for economic crimes. Shu
took a total bribe of 200,000 yuan for granting approval of a
sale of 500 pieces (jian 0115) of Hongtashan brand cigarettes,
while He provided 2 million yuan of public funds to his son for
business.
Qiu Chuangjiao, president of the Yunnan Provincial Higher
People's Court also said today that the court closed 29 serious
and important economic cases in 1993. Tan Ye, former cadre of
the Kunming blood center, was sentenced to death with a two-year
reprieve for embezzling 110,000 yuan of public money; Han
Shulin, a recidivist, was sentenced to death for gaining a
profit of 1.19 million yuan from selling fake Hongtashan brand
cigarettes; and Li Lanzhen, former director of the Kunming
Xishan District Food Company sales department, was given a death
sentence for embezzling 3.74 million yuan of public funds.
(Beijing ZHONGGUO XINWEN SHE in Chinese 1357 GMT 2 Feb 94)