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 two campuses, one in Songjiang University Town in Songjiang District, and the other in Changning District. History Th ...

. A specialist in

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...

, 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 (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

, Republic of China. After graduating from the Department of Law of

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

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

(ECUPL) in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. In April 1972, Su was transferred to

Fudan University Fudan University () is a national public research university in Shanghai, China. Fudan is a member of the C9 League, Project 985, Project 211, and the Double First Class University identified by the Ministry of Education of China. It is als ...

. 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, constitutionally synonymous with the Central People's Government since 1954 (particularly in relation to local governments), is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the p ...

. 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 migh ...

. In May 2019, Su was named a "National Distinguished Legal Scholar", the highest honour of the

. He was in poor health at the time, and the award was presented to him at

Ruijin Hospital Ruijin Hospital () is a renowned general hospital in Shanghai, China, with the rating of "Grade 3, Class A", the highest rating in the Chinese medical system. It is a university hospital affiliated to School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

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 sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, 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. The gang ...

and the

Lin Biao ) , serviceyears = 1925–1971 , branch = People's Liberation Army , rank = Marshal of the People's Republic of China Lieutenant general of the National Revolutionary Army, Republic of China , commands ...

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 founding Ten Marshals of the People's Republic of China. He was the top military leader in the 1976 coup that overthrew ...

and

He Long He Long (; March 22, 1896 – June 9, 1969) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and one of the ten marshals of the People's Liberation Army. He was from a poor rural family in Hunan, and his family was not able to provide him with any formal e ...

, and general

Luo Ruiqing Luo Ruiqing (; May 31, 1906 – August 3, 1978), formerly romanized as Lo Jui-ch'ing, was a Chinese army officer and politician, general of the People's Liberation Army. He created the People's Republic of China's security and police appara ...

, 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, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

as "irrational" and supported the eventual abolition of

capital punishment in China Capital punishment in China is a legal penalty. It is commonly applied for murder and drug trafficking, although it is also a legal penalty for various other offenses. Executions are carried out by lethal injection or by shooting. In a survey c ...

; 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