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| Lt Gen Gu Junshan |
A death penalty is possible in the corruption trial of People's Liberation Army general
Gu Junshan, according to
this account in
Want China Times (citing the Guandong-based
Southern Weekly). WTC writes:
Su Yong, the former head of a PLA military court, said a military tribunal is different from a civilian court as the military court is not only responsible for trials but also has a major role in conducting political activities in the military.
Xie Dan, an expert in military justice, said that over 95% of criminal cases handled by military courts had military lawyers serving as defense counsel, especially in major criminal cases involving senior military officials, and lawyers had "very little room for defense."
Observers are carefully selected and usually only those who were related to the defendants or their subordinates are permitted to attend.
Editor's note: we have not been
awarding Georges lately, but the process described here deserves one (or more).
See generally Draft Principles Governing the Administration of Justice Through Military Tribunals, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/2006/58 (2006).
I haven't seen any further speculation on General Gu's possible sentence, but my (uninformed) view is that it would more likely be a suspended death sentence. Civilian lawyers need permission to represent clients in military courts, by the way.
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