China is to adopt execution by lethal injection throughout the country.
Lethal injections were legalised four years ago and the method has been used in several cities already. However, the Chinese say they will still carry out some executions by the traditional method - by gunshot to the head or heart. According to the state news agency Xinhua, officials involved in the lethal injection trials say they are simpler, cheaper, more humane and less traumatic than gunshots. The agency said research on substances for lethal injections is almost complete and regulations for such executions have been submitted to a committee of the Supreme People's Court for deliberation. The first execution by lethal injection took place in Kunming in 1997 following a series of experiments on animals.