You may not alter this information, repost or sell it without permission. If you use this document, you are encouraged to make a donation to Amnesty International to support future research. These are available for free unrestricted worldwide broadcast and the footage from them is free for editing as tv stations require. If you are interested in receiving VHS viewing copies, please contact your local Amnesty International office. People have been executed for crimes as small as stealing cows and farm machinery.
Shocking footage shows that mass executions are commonplace.
At great personal risk a Chinese lawyer testifies that those executed are unlikely to have had a fair trial because extracting confessions by torture is rife. Though torture is illegal and punishable by law in China, theory and practice are worlds apart, as testified by a former police officer in an exclusive interview. China's cynical and arbitrary use of the death sentence compounds a legal system riddled with faults and inconsistencies. The police often abuse their power in the name of a state which brooks no dissent. Artists, political activists and religious worshippers testify that for many Chinese citizens imprisonment, torture and official harassment are the norm.