China's top court ruled against giving the death penalty on Thursday to two men convicted of forcing a girl into prostitution, a move hailed by law experts and judges.

In defense of their ruling, the Supreme People's Court said the alleged actions by Qin Xing and Zhou Junhui to force a then 11-year-old girl into prostitution in Yongzhou, Hunan province, did not constitute "the most serious" crime under the current Chinese Criminal Law.

Qin and Zhou are currently in detention on charges of kidnapping, raping and forcing the girl, identified under the alias Le Le, to engage in prostitution more than 100 times from October until December 2006.