Gu Kailai's suspended death sentence reflects recent anti-execution trend

Suspended death sentences such as the one given to Gu Kailai yesterday are a measure Beijing has adopted in recent years to reduce the number of executions.

Article 50 of the Criminal Law states that if a convict does not "intentionally commit any crime during the execution of the reprieve", after two years the sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment, or 25 years if the convict "genuinely demonstrates major merit". Further reductions are also possible.

"There is no clear law to define the suspended death sentence; the judges can give this sentence as the circumstances may require," said Beijing lawyer Li Heping .

He said Gu's case was definitely one of "first-degree murder", but she received a suspended sentence for political reasons, because she and her husband, Bo Xilai , were important figures.

An article posted on the website of the Dui Hua Foundation, a non-profit humanitarian organisation based in San Francisco, predicted that Gu could spend as little as nine years behind bars.

Given that state media reported Gu had a "physical and psychological dependence on sedative hypnotic drugs", she would also be eligible for medical parole, according to the foundation.