Ten Chinese criminals are sentenced to death in front of thousands of spectators - including children - before being executed immediately
- Courts in China sentenced drug dealers, murderers and robbers on Saturday
- Officials had informed the residents to come and watch the event via a notice
- The criminals were taken to the execution ground immediately afterwards
- Chinese media have call the sentencing rally 'inhumane' and 'insulting'
Two Chinese courts sentenced 10 criminals to death in front of thousands of people including children on Saturday.
The 10 criminals, who were convicted drug dealers, murderers and robbers, were said to be executed immediately at an execution ground in Lufeng, southern China's Guangdong Province.
This is the third time courts in Guangdong have announced death sentences to a group of criminals in public since June.
Thousands of people on Saturday attended the rally jointly held by two courts in Guangdong
The authority notified the public about the sentencing rally through a notice on December 12
While the local legal authority hoped the rally could help educate the public against committing crimes, Chinese media have called the event 'inhumane' and 'insulting'.
The public sentencing rally took place at a sports stadium in Lufeng's Donghai town at 9:30am.
It's understood that the verdicts and sentences for the criminals had already been made prior to the rally and the judge simply announced them to the masses.
A total of 12 people received their sentences on the day from the Shanwei Intermediate People's Court and Lufeng People's Court.
The 10 criminals were taken to the execution ground right after the rally watched by residents
The public sentencing rally took place at a sports stadium in Lufeng's Donghai town at 9:30am
The local authority hoped the rally could help educate the public against committing crimes
Among them, 10 of them were given death sentences. Seven of them were drug dealers and the others were convicted of murdering and robbery.
A video of the rally on Chinese news site 163.com shows a judge announcing the criminals' crimes and punishment in front of thousands of residents, including uniformed students.
The criminals were then taken out of the stadium one by one on the court's vehicles as the crowd watched.
According to local news site Lufengshi.net, the Lufeng People's Court issued a public notice on December 12, informing the residents to come and join the rally.
Prior to Saturday's rally, courts in Guangdong had organised two similar events in the space of six months.
On November 28, crowd watched three drug dealers being sentenced to death in Jieyang city
The sentencing rally was organised by an intermediate court in Jieyang in a public square
On November 28, three drug dealers were given death sentences in front of more than 1,000 people at a public square in Jieyang; while on June 24, some 10,000 people swarmed to see 13 criminals, also drug dealers, receiving death sentences at a stadium in Shanwei.
The function of these rallies is to educate the public about serious crimes and deter them from committing them, according to book Crime, Law and Social Change.
The book also said the rallies 'are a format in which the emotive representations of public shaming and gestures of moral indignation can be acted out'.
The Chinese media have called Saturday's rally 'inhumane' and 'insulting'.
A columnist, named Shen Bin, commented on the news on Beijing News today.
Shen said though the local authority's purpose was to scare the local criminals and boost sense of social security, they shouldn't break humanity's bottom line which was protected by the law.
Shen called for an immediate end on public sentencing rallies. The columnist said China's Public Security Bureau issued a regulation in 1988, which prohibited courts from publicly shaming criminals.
Commenting on the rally which took place in June, William Nee at the Amnesty International said it was 'tragic' and 'barbaric'.
Situated along the southern coast of China, Guangdong has been a hotbed for drug-related crimes, especially cross-border smuggling.
The province is also China's largest producer of methamphetamine. More than a third of the methamphetamine consumed in China was said to be made by villages in Lufeng.
This year so far, the Guangdong police have busted more than 13,000 drug-related cases, arrested more than 16,000 suspects, caught more than 104,000 drug users and seized 10.4 tonnes of drugs, reported state-run China's Xinhua News Agency.
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