‘Execution’ parade in China TV sparks anger

BEIJING - Agence France-Presse

Principal suspect Naw Kham leaves the detention center for execution in Kunming. REUTERS photo

An “execution parade” on China’s state television of four foreign men sentenced to death for killing 13 sailors on the Mekong River caused anger in China on March 1, with many people saying it was an unnecessary display of vengeance.

 The 2011 murder of the Chinese sailors was one of the deadliest assaults on Chinese nationals overseas in modern times and prompted the government to send gunboat patrols to the region downstream from its border.

Chief suspect Naw Kham, extradited to China by Lao officials in May, was found guilty of the killings of the sailors last year in the “Golden Triangle” region known for drug smuggling, where the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet. Naw Kham, from Myanmar, and the three others were executed by lethal injection in the Chinese city of Kunming, but not before being paraded live on state television, trussed with ropes and shackled in chains, as police led them from the jail to a bus taking them to the place of execution.

The actual execution was not shown. “Using two hours to broadcast live the process for these criminals facing the death penalty is a violation of Article 252 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China,” said human rights lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan. The broadcast by China Central Television also violated a law by the Supreme People’s Court that a “person’s dignity should never be insulted,” Liu said.