Photo: VCG

China should consider granting amnesty to some convicts as the Communist Party of China (CPC) is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary in July, said Zhu Zhengfu, a member of the 13th National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in a proposal at the two sessions in Beijing.

"I propose that China should grant amnesty to some convicts who have served their sentences in order to further show humanitarianism and further enhance the international image of the CPC and China," Zhu told the Global Times on Sunday. 

Those who have served more than half of the original sentence, or those who have been sentenced to life imprisonment or the death penalty commuted to life imprisonment and have served more than 10 years, with the remaining sentence of less than three years can be pardoned, Zhu said. 

"Those sentenced to less than three years of fixed-term imprisonment with a remaining sentence of less than two years should also be covered by the pardon," he noted. 

Zhu also suggested that many exceptions shall apply. Convicts who have committed serious crimes such as intentional homicide, rape, kidnapping, arson, organized violent crimes, drug trafficking, endangering national security and terrorist activities should not be covered by the amnesty. 

Those who have been pardoned but sentenced again for crimes, those who do not confess and repent of their crimes, and those who are assessed to be dangerous should also not be pardoned, Zhu said.

China has had nine prisoner amnesties since the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), with the most recent one in 2019, ahead of the PRC's 70th anniversary. 

In 2019, nine categories of prisoners were pardoned, including convicts who fought in the anti-Japanese war in World War II, those aged over 75 and with serious physical disabilities, and those who had previously been named model workers, according to state media Xinhua News Agency.