Controversial
clauses that permit detention, arrest or surveillance of suspects at specific
places, without informing their families, have been partially revised in
response to an outcry to curb possible abuses of public security measures, as
the latest amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law is tabled for lawmakers to
read.
Clauses in the previous draft amendment to the law, which permit police
to arrest suspects or hold them at a specific place under surveillance without
telling their families, have been removed from the latest version delivered to
the National People's Congress for a third review on Thursday.
The proposal requires public security to inform the suspect's family
within 24 hours after arrest and surveillance, Wang Zhaoguo, vice-chairman of
the National People's Congress Standing Committee, told members of the top
legislature.
As for detention, the proposal still permits the police not to inform
the family "if the case is related to state security or terrorism, and if
telling families would impede the investigation", Wang said.
The changes are made to ensure the rights of suspects, he said.
Thursday's proposal is also significant for "respecting and
safeguarding human rights" as an essential principle in the proposed code.
This is the first time this has been stated since the code was introduced in
1979.
Wang Liming, professor at Renmin University of China, said the law as
it stands should fully embody the principle of human rights, as it is a
principle stipulated in China's Constitution.
Prior to this, the National People's Congress Standing Committee had
already reviewed stipulations in August and December, and had included major
refinements such as the prohibition of forced confession under torture.
Dai Yuzhong, a member of the inspection committee under the Supreme
People's Procuratorate, said in the new draft amendment that the modifications
of evidence, defence, enforcement measures, investigation, as well as trial
systems, all, to some extent, embody the protection of human rights.
Dai acknowledged that sometimes the police use torture to force suspects
to make confessions.
The draft amendment has made clear that confessions extorted through
illegal means, such as torture, should be excluded from evidence during trial.
Zhao Zuohai, a farmer from Central China's Henan province, was released
after serving 10 years in prison in 2010 when the "victim" he was
found guilty of murdering was found to be alive.
Zhao told the media he confessed due to torture during interrogation.
He later received about 650,000 yuan (US$102,960) in compensation, Xinhua News
Agency reported.
The latest draft amendment requires police and judicial authorities to
improve law enforcement and protect the legal and other legitimate rights of
involved parties, Dai said.
The amendment also clarifies detailed procedures for the review of
death penalties. All death sentences must get final approval from the top court
before being carried out.
"The draft stipulates that if the top court rejects the death
penalty, the case will be sent back to the local high court for retrial, which helps
protect the suspect's legal rights and also reduces litigation costs," he
said.
"Meanwhile, during the review period, the top court can call the
suspect and listen to their lawyer's defence before making a final judgment,
which could effectively limit the number of death penalty cases, and improve
the quality of trials involving death sentences."
While acknowledging the progress of the draft amendment, experts said
they hoped that one possible step might see a reduction in the length of
detention .
"I hope that the period could be reduced and judicial review by
judges could be introduced in the early stages to ensure suspects are being
brought to court 'as soon as possible', either to stand trial or be
released," Wang Minyuan, a criminal procedure law professor with Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, said.
Wang Zhaoguo, however, stressed that improvements being made should be
"progressive" and the draft "should not go beyond China's
reality or imitate Western judicial and litigation systems".
Zhao Yinan
China Daily
Zhang Yan and Guo Rui contributed to this story.
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