Su Huiyu
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Su Huiyu (; 17 September 1934 – 19 June 2019) was a Chinese legal scholar and a distinguished professor at the
East China University of Political Science and Law East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL; ) is a public university in Shanghai, China, founded in 1952. It has three campuses, one in Songjiang University Town in Songjiang District, one in Changning District, and the other in Pu ...
. A specialist in
criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...
, he was named a "National Distinguished Legal Scholar", the highest honour of the
China Law Society The China Law Society is the official people's organization of Chinese legal academic professionals. It was established in 1982 and has sub-institutions of different fields of law, such as jurisprudence, constitutional law, civil law, crimina ...
.


Biography

Su was born on 17 September 1934 in
Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...
,
Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...
, Republic of China. After graduating from the Department of Law of
Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...
in 1959, he was hired as a faculty member by the university. From 1963, he worked as a legal researcher at the Jiangsu Superior People's Court. In April 1965, he became a faculty member of the
East China University of Political Science and Law East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL; ) is a public university in Shanghai, China, founded in 1952. It has three campuses, one in Songjiang University Town in Songjiang District, one in Changning District, and the other in Pu ...
(ECUPL) in
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
. In April 1972, Su was transferred to
Fudan University Fudan University (FDU) is a public university, national public university in Yangpu, Shanghai, Yangpu, Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and is co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal ...
. In June 1979, he returned to ECUPL where he served as Director of Criminal Law. He was promoted to associate professor in 1982 and full professor in 1986. In 1993, he was awarded a special pension for the country's top scholars by the
State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...
. He was named a distinguished professor in 2004, shortly before his retirement in December that year. Su published dozens of books and more than 100 research papers. In 1994, he served as chief editor of ''Criminal Law'' (). It has been used as the standard textbook on the subject in Chinese universities, and won the National Excellent Textbook award. In 1996, he participated in the revision of China's
criminal code A criminal code or penal code is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...
. In May 2019, Su was named a "National Distinguished Legal Scholar", the highest honour of the
China Law Society The China Law Society is the official people's organization of Chinese legal academic professionals. It was established in 1982 and has sub-institutions of different fields of law, such as jurisprudence, constitutional law, civil law, crimina ...
. He was in poor health at the time, and the award was presented to him at Ruijin Hospital where he was hospitalized. He died less than a month later, on 19 June 2019, at the age of 84.


Defence of Li Zuopeng

After the end of the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
, Su participated in the historic trial of the
Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes due to th ...
and the
Lin Biao Lin Biao ( zh, 林彪; 5 December 1907 – 13 September 1971) was a Chinese politician and Marshal of the People's Republic of China who was pivotal in the Chinese Communist Party, Communist Chinese Communist Revolution, victory during the Chines ...
clique from November 1980 to January 1981. He and Zhang Sizhi served as a defence attorneys for General
Li Zuopeng Li Zuopeng (; April 24, 1914 – January 3, 2009) was a general of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Biography Li was born in Ji'an, Jiangxi in 1914. He joined the Chinese Red Army in 1930. In the Cultural Revolution, Li was elected as the ...
, a key associate of Lin Biao. During the trial, Su and Zhang did not deny the charge that Li was "one of the principal culprits of the Lin Biao counter-revolutionary clique", and Li admitted that he framed marshals
Ye Jianying Ye Jianying (; 28 April 1897 – 22 October 1986) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary leader and politician, one of the Ten Marshals of the People's Republic of China. He was the top military leader in the 1976 coup that overthrew the Gang ...
and
He Long He Long (; March 22, 1896 – June 9, 1969) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and a Marshal of the People's Republic of China. He was from a poor rural family in Hunan, and his family was not able to provide him with any formal education. H ...
, and general
Luo Ruiqing Luo Ruiqing (; May 31, 1906 – August 3, 1978), formerly romanized as Lo Jui-ch'ing, was a People's Republic of China, Chinese army officer and politician, general of the People's Liberation Army. As the first Ministry of Public Security ...
, who were all persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. However, Su and Zhang argued that Li was merely following Lin Biao's orders and that he later took the initiative to reveal his own crimes. In the end, Li was sentenced to 17 years in prison.


View on capital punishment

Su regarded
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
as "irrational" and supported the eventual abolition of
capital punishment in China Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the People's Republic of China. It is applicable to offenses ranging from murder to drug trafficking. Executions are carried out by lethal injection or by shooting. A survey conducted by ''The'' ''New Y ...
; however, he argued that the goal should be achieved "step by step" over a long period of time, solely because the general public widely believed in "the retributive and deterrent effect of the death penalty".


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Su, Huiyu 1934 births 2019 deaths Chinese legal scholars Educators from Suzhou Peking University alumni Academic staff of Peking University Academic staff of the East China University of Political Science and Law Academic staff of Fudan University