Executions Continue

A former Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) official was executed Tuesday after being found guilty of taking bribes and embezzling bank funds worth about US$2 million, AP reported. Wen Mengjie, 50, headed the information technology department at ABC's Beijing office between February 1999 and February 2004. Last year a court convicted him of accepting US$1.4 million in bribes that were tied to the purchase of electronic equipment and computer software. Wen also embezzled another US$570,000 while overseeing the purchase of ATMs. Despite increased judicial oversight on death penalty cases, China continues to execute people for economic, nonviolent and political crimes. In July, Zheng Xiaoyu, former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, was executed for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines.

Note that the Chinese government did not promise to limit executions to violent crimes when it handed jurisdiction over to the "supreme court". The idea was that judicial oversight would add credibility to a conviction process that generally takes a week to a month from the time the investigation is complete until the time the firing squad loads their guns.

The judiciary in China is part of the political arm. I believe he is getting China confused with the US system where the judicial branch is separate and serves as a check and balance. This group's responsibility is to reinforce Beijing's vision.