All 14 cities in northeast China's Liaoning Province are expected to have adopted the lethal injection as the means of execution by the end of the year, putting an end to shooting, the provincial higher people's court announced Monday.

Liaoning had 10 cities that used lethal injection by the end of last year and another four cities would follow this year, said Zuo Lianbi, vice president of the Higher People's Court of Liaoning, at a press conference.

Zuo also called on courts of the four cities to prepare venues and train staff for the injection, which would be less painful for convicted criminals and preserve their physical integrity.

Lethal injection was first used in Liaoning in 2001 to execute two convicted murderers in Shenyang, the regional capital.

Shooting was the only means of execution in China under the Criminal Law that took effect in 1979, but the revised 1996 version of the Code of Criminal Procedure stipulated that lethal injection was also allowed.

The first lethal injection in the country was conducted in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, in southwest China, on March 28, 1997.

In 2001, the Supreme Court of China called on courts at all levels to gradually adopt lethal injection for people given death sentences.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2009)