The last Strike Hard campaign was from April 2001 to April last year. The party's all-powerful nine-member Politburo Standing Committee, of which the 68-year-old Luo is a member, rose to power in a generational change of guard in November 2002.
As part of judicial reforms, Beijing city last year introduced a policy of allowing death row convicts to meet family members on the eve of their executions.
Anshan city in northeastern Liaoning Province and Haikou in Hainan have followed in Beijing's footsteps.
Capital punishment was traditionally carried out with a single bullet fired at close range into the heart or back of the head with the convict kneeling, his ankles manacled and hands tied behind his back.
China introduced execution by lethal injection in 1997.



