KUNMING: China's supreme court is telling courts nationwide to use lethal injections in capital punishment cases.

Liu Jiachen, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, said at a national meeting on the issue Thursday that the move was designed to carry out executions in a "more humane and scientific way."

Shooting is now the common practice.

Liu said all capital cities and other major cities should switch to lethal injection by the end of the year.

He urged leading court officials at various levels to make sure the lethal injections are conducted professionally and in accordance with the regulations formulated by the supreme court.

Lethal injection was first given legal status as an execution method in the country on January 1, 1997.

Under China's amended Criminal Procedure Law, capital punishment may be done by shooting, lethal injection and other methods.

Since then, the Kunming Municipal Intermediate Court in Southwest China's Yunnan Province has ordered lethal injections on a trial basis.

Prisoners and their families prefer that method, meeting participants were told.

Xinhua