In 1997, Sun Xiaoguo was sentenced to death for raping women in public, illegally detaining individuals, and raping underage girls, crimes deemed egregious under the 1979 Criminal Law. His sentence was later commuted to a suspended death sentence on appeal. In 2006, the Yunnan High People’s Court retried the case, reducing his sentence to 20 years. After multiple reductions, he was released in April 2010 after serving 12 years.
In 2018, China launched a nation-wide crackdown on organized crime, deploying central supervision teams to provinces for key investigations. Sun was investigated for his organised crime in entertainment venues, leading Yunnan police to uncover his past convictions and suspicious sentence reductions. In April 2019, the case was escalated to the central supervision team on crackdown of organised crime, which shortly provided direct guidance on reinvestigation. Following this, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), and the National Supervisory Commission (NSC) stationed personnel to investigate judicial corruption linked to his unlawful sentence reductions.
In July 2019, the Yunnan High People’s Court initiated a retrial of the 2006 judgment and, and reinstated the original death sentence in December 2019. On February 12, 2020, the Supreme People’s Court approved the death sentence. Sun was executed on February 20, 2020. Dozens of judicial officials involved were penalised. This case drew national public debate on the systemic judicial corruption and power abuse. It was recognised as a landmark in the anti-organised crime and anti-corruption campaign, with state media producing documentaries to underscore its significance.
However, rape that did not result in the victims' deaths, should not be recognised as "most serious crimes" warranting the death penalty under international human rights laws. The direct intervention of central judicial and Party discipline authorities reflects a consistent pattern in handling high-profile cases during national crackdowns.