By Liu Meng

The country's top court said Tuesday that all the country's death penalty cases will carry two years reprieve with the exception of those criminals who are condemned to immediate execution.

Observers said the move shows an increasingly cautious approach on  the part of the authorities toward the death penalty.

In its annual report, the Supreme People's Court said it would continue to ensure that only small numbers of extremely serious criminals are executed. Those who are not sentenced to immediate execution will get two years' suspension of the death penalty, according to a report of the People's Daily website Tuesday.

 "The report shows that China is more and more discreet on death penalty," Wang Sixin, a law professor at the Communication University of China, told the Global Times Tuesday.

All those sentenced to death have their sentences reviewed, a process enshrined in the first Criminal Law of 1979, which empowered the Supreme People's Court to conduct the review. In 1983, that power was transferred to local higher people's courts but later restored to the Supreme People's Court in 2007.

"The recall of the power by the Supreme People's Court was the backdrop for the government becoming more careful towards death penalty. It is trying to reduce the numbers of executions," said Wang.

There are many reasons for the government's caution over the death penalty, experts said.

Aside from international pressure over China's execution record, bungled cases involving the death penalty have also prompted a more cautious approach.

In 1994, She Xianglin from Hubei Province was sentenced to death with two years' reprieve at his first trial by the local court for the murder of his wife, who had disappeared the same year. In 2005, his wife suddenly returned. She Xianglin was acquitted and paid compensation of about 700,000 yuan ($107,813).

"Though such cases are rare, they have a big influence," Liu Tao, a professor at Chinese People's Public Security University, told the Global Times.

In February this year, 13 offences including the smuggling of cultural relics were taken off the list of charges punishable by death under an amendment to the Criminal Law.