AFP) -- A total of 819,000 Chinese were condemned to death or jailed for life over the past five years, the country's Supreme Court president said.
The figure represents a 25 percent rise over the previous five years, Xiao Yang said in his annual report to members of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing.
A total of 3.2 million people were condemned for various types of crime over the past five years, he said.
The Chinese legal system reserves particularly severe treatment for people found guilty of organizing themselves into "evil cults" such as the Falungong spiritual movement, or criminal gangs.
The same goes for crimes falling into the categories of drug trafficking, kidnapping of women and children, underground publishing, separatism, terrorism and subversion of state power.
Xiao also said said 83,308 officials have been found guilty of corruption over the past five years, the vast majority of them apparently small fry.
Only 2,662 were officials above the county level, one of the lowest administrative tiers in China's administrative system, Xiao said in his report.
"These results have testified to the intensified efforts by the people's courts in dealing with job-related crimes and those offering bribes to government functionaries," Xiao said.
The 2,662 public servants at or above the county level falling foul of the law represented a 65 percent increase over the previous five-year period, according to Xiao.
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The figure represents a 25 percent rise over the previous five years, Xiao Yang said in his annual report to members of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing.
A total of 3.2 million people were condemned for various types of crime over the past five years, he said.
The Chinese legal system reserves particularly severe treatment for people found guilty of organizing themselves into "evil cults" such as the Falungong spiritual movement, or criminal gangs.
The same goes for crimes falling into the categories of drug trafficking, kidnapping of women and children, underground publishing, separatism, terrorism and subversion of state power.
Xiao also said said 83,308 officials have been found guilty of corruption over the past five years, the vast majority of them apparently small fry.
Only 2,662 were officials above the county level, one of the lowest administrative tiers in China's administrative system, Xiao said in his report.
"These results have testified to the intensified efforts by the people's courts in dealing with job-related crimes and those offering bribes to government functionaries," Xiao said.
The 2,662 public servants at or above the county level falling foul of the law represented a 65 percent increase over the previous five-year period, according to Xiao.
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