June-July,2002: in the last two months 185 persons...

June-July,2002: in the last two months 185 persons were executed in China: 164 drug traffickers, 17 criminals involved in organized crime and 4 others were killed for corruption.From January to June 2002, Beijing courts tried 300 drug cases involving 381 people, an increase of 20 per cent compared to the same period in 2001. Some 310 people were sentenced to five-year terms of imprisonment and above. From January to May 2002, there were 54 female drug criminals, 19 per cent of the total number. Some 10 to29 per cent of the drug criminals were under the age of 25. In 2001, the authorities sent 217,000 addicts to drug dependence centres for treatment and more than 70,000 repeat addicts to re-education through labour. From January to mid-June 2002, they sent more than 100,000 addicts to drug dependence centres for treatment.The Yangcheng Evening News reported on 4 July that the provincial procuratorate in Guangdong Province had approved death sentences for organized crime as part of the "strike hard" anti-crime campaign. Starting in 1998, procuratorate organs in Chongqing Municipality have filed investigations of 3,605 dereliction of duty, corruption and embezzlement cases and punished 4,069 cadres, redeeming 467m yuan in economic losses through resolution of these cases.