26 SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SOUTHERN CHINA

BEIJING - Twenty-six convicted criminals were collectively sentenced to
death in China's southern city of Guangzhou as part of a government effort
to clear a back-log of cases awaiting verdict, state press reported on Sunday.

The 26 criminals were mostly convicted of "drug trafficking and other
heinous crimes", and were sentenced to death on Saturday, the China News
Service reported.

The collective death sentence was delivered under heavy security at the
Guangzhou municipal court with some 150 armed police and security guards
maintaining order, the report said.

Among those sentenced to death was Liu Maoliang, who was convicted of
trafficking up to 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) of illegal drugs, including
heroin, it said.

Liu was first detained in January 2001 and should have been sentenced by
November 2002. His 32 months in criminal detention violated existing
Chinese regulations on the amount of time suspects can be held before their
cases reach a final verdict, the report said without elaboration.

The length of Liu's detention was the longest among the 26 who were
sentenced to death.

His case was delayed "because of a lack of jail space and other reasons",
the report said, without further explanation.

China's state prosecutor's office began clearing away back logged cases on
August 1, the report said. China liberally uses the death penalty in its
court rulings but regards the number of executions as a closely guarded
state secret.

According to a book titled "Disidai" purportedly written by a high-placed
government source and published recently in the United States, China has
executed up to 15,000 people a year during its four-year-old "strike hard"
campaign against crime.

Last month the government announced that the campaign would continue for at
least another year.