Outcry over Sichuan woman's death sentence for killing abusive husband
Lawyers and activists call for reversal of sentence against woman who killed her husband while being beaten after two years of spousal abuse
More than 400 lawyers and women's rights activists have sent a petition letter to the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate calling for the reversal of a death sentence that was handed down to a Sichuan woman who killed her husband after suffering months of domestic violence.
Li Yan, from Anyue county in Ziyang , quarrelled with her drunken husband on the night of November 3, 2010. He threatened to shoot her in the buttocks with an air rifle while she was washing dishes at their home, and then began kicking her.
Li, 42, then hit her husband twice with another gun that she had grabbed from nearby, accidentally killing him.
She dismembered his corpse, throwing most of his body parts in a public toilet and a dyke, before telling a friend about the killing. The friend alerted the police.
Li was sentenced to death by the Ziyang Intermediate People's Court and lost her appeal at the Sichuan Higher People's Court in August. The Supreme People's Court authorised her execution this month.
Teng Biao , director of China Against Death Penalty who launched the petition campaign, said they were calling on the judiciary to re-examine the domestic violence that led to the killing and take it into full account in a new decision showing due respect for human life.