Beijing:

Australian writer and pro-democracy blogger Yang Hengjun was given a suspended death sentence by a Beijing court on Monday, in what human rights advocates said was an unusually harsh sentence for an espionage-related case.

Here are more details about the death penalty reprieve:

What is a suspended execution of death penalty?

Suspended executions under Chinese law suspend a defendant’s execution for two years, after which time it automatically converts to a life sentence or, more rarely, a fixed-term prison sentence. The man was in jail the entire time.

“In recent years, it has been used more commonly as a way to reduce the incidence of executions without completely abolishing the death penalty,” said Ryan Mitchell, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong. He added that the exact incidence of executions, including moratoriums, Considered a state secret by China.

“The sentence applies to a variety of cases and is not related to one particular type of crime,” Mitchell said. He said it was often used for crimes considered to have “serious negative social impact”, such as drug trafficking.

In December last year, the former vice chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission was sentenced to death with a two-year suspended sentence for taking bribes and abusing power. In 2022, former Justice Minister Fu Zhenghua was also sentenced to the same sentence for accepting bribes.

Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said that regardless of whether it is carried out, the sentence effectively amounts to a death sentence because of Yang’s poor health and the inadequate medical care he received in prison.

Possibility of deportation

Parole “is usually not granted until half of the fixed sentence is completed, or ten years in the case of a life sentence,” Mitchell said. But he added that China’s top court could grant parole in “exceptional circumstances” Make exceptions.

“For cases of this nature, exercising discretion after the biennium is over would help maintain a level of diplomatic leverage,” he said.

Patrick Pan, a visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo and an independent human rights analyst, said it was “rare to see suspended death sentences in espionage cases” in China, especially given that the Australian government has been outspoken in calling for Yang’s release.

“This becomes another question of how much international and diplomatic pressure the Chinese government is under,” he said, referring to the cases of Australian citizen Cheng Lei and the Canadian “two Michaels” who were ultimately deported to their home countries. Tried on espionage charges.

Pan added: “It’s still possible that Yang will be deported, but it’s not clear yet.”

lack of transparency

China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Yang’s verdict on Monday and confirmed he had been found guilty of espionage, without providing further details of the charges.

Wang Wenbin said at the daily briefing that “the court strictly followed the law and protected his procedural rights,” adding that the “Australian side” had been allowed to observe the sentencing.

Yang’s lawyers, including prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Mo Shaoping, have been barred from speaking publicly about the case.

The conviction rate of Chinese courts is as high as 99.9%, and the verdicts of cases involving national security or the death penalty have never been published online.

“This case really highlights what happens to people who are arbitrarily detained on national security charges in China, and it also highlights the opacity of the criminal justice system,” Pearson said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)