Death penalty shall be subject to approval by the Supreme People’s Court. According to the
Criminal Procedure Law of China
the Intermediate People’s Courts shall have jurisdiction as courts of first instance over ordinary criminal cases punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty. Therefore, a sentence of the death penalty may be entered by an Intermediate People’s Court, a Higher People’s Court or the Supreme People’s Court.
A case of first instance where an Intermediate People’s Court has imposed a death sentence and the defendant does not appeal shall be reviewed by a Higher People’s Court and submitted to the Supreme People’s Court for approval. If the Higher People’s Court does not agree with the death sentence, it may bring the case up for trial or remand the case for retrial.
Cases of first instance where a Higher People’s Court has imposed a death sentence and the defendant does not appeal, and cases of second instance where a death sentence has been imposed shall all be submitted to the Supreme People’s Court for approval.
A case where an Intermediate People’s Court has imposed a death sentence with a two-year suspension of execution, shall be subject to approval by a Higher People’s Court.
Reviews by the Supreme People’s Court of cases involving death sentences, and reviews by a Higher People’s Court of cases involving death sentences with a suspension of execution shall be conducted by collegial panels, which will be composed of three judges.
An order of approval or non-approval of the death penalty sentence shall be issued by the Supreme People’s Court upon review. Should and order of non-approval be issued, the case will be sent back to the original court for retrial, or the Supreme People’s Court may modify the judgment directly.
To review the cases in which a lower court has imposed the death penalty, the Supreme People’s Court should interrogate the defendants, and if the defense lawyer requests, the Supreme People’s Court shall hear the defense lawyer’s opinions.
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate may submit recommendations to the Supreme People’s Court during the review process and the Supreme People’s Court should deliver the results to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.
As a relief from wrong judgments, the procedures of second instance and trial supervision procedures are provided by law. The procedure of second instance is also known as procedure for appeal and the trial supervision procedure is also known as retrial procedure.