crankymessiah wrote: ] ] China is equipping its courts with mobile execution vans ] ] as it shifts away from the communist system's traditional ] ] bullet in the head, towards a more "civilised" use of ] ] lethal injection. ] ] ] ] Intermediate Courts of the southern province of Yunnan ] ] were issued with 18 new execution vans on February 28 and ] ] a court official said some have already been used. ] ] ] ] "We cannot tell you how many executions so far, otherwise ] ] you could work out from the daily rate how many we carry ] ] out," the official said. ] ] ] ] Chinese authorities keep execution numbers a secret, but ] ] Western human rights monitors believe it is about 15,000 ] ] a year, more than the rest of the world's judicial ] ] executions combined. ] ] ] ] The death penalty can apply for serious crimes against ] ] the person, armed robbery, drug trafficking, major cases ] ] of corruption and political violence. ] ] ] ] Many public executions have been held in football ] ] stadiums so traditional execution methods are no secret. ] ] The condemned criminal is taken by open truck to the ] ] execution ground and made to kneel with hands cuffed and ] ] head bowed, before being shot in the head. Families who ] ] want to reclaim the body are charged for the bullet. Wasn't this stage one of the Germans before the started building concentration camps? RE: Chinese try mobile death vans - theage.com.au |