New China rules rule out torture in confessions

Embarrassed by a murder victim who turned up a decade after his "killer" was convicted, China's security and judicial authorities issued rules on Sunday to make it harder to convict suspects based on confessions secured under duress.

Under China's current system, confessions play a strong role in convictions and suspects have little access to lawyers or any other protection while in police custody. Suspects can be detained for some time before being formally arrested or charged.

2 new regulations set out procedures for assessing evidence in cases subject to the death penalty, and for excluding evidence obtained under duress, according to an announcemnt on the central government website.

Testimony taken under violence or threat and evidence from unamed sources must be excluded, and defendents may request an investigation into whether their testimony was obtained illegally, the new regulations state.

If the investigation is approved, prosecutors must provide the court with interrogation notes, tapes and videos of the interrogation and testimony of those present.

A campaign by legal reformers against abuse in police custody was given a new boost this month, when convicted murderer Zhao Zuohai was acquitted after his supposed victim returned home after disappearing for over 10 years. "Judicial practice in recent years shows that slack and improper methods have been used to gather, examine and exclude evidence in various cases, especially those involving the death penalty," the Xinhua news agency said.

It was citing the statement by the Supreme People's Court, Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Justice.

In a similar case in 2005, a man who had confessed to killing his wife was released when she returned home after 11 years. His mother had died in police custody while attempting to defend him.

That case triggered a review of all death penalty cases.

Yang Jia, who attacked and killed 6 police officers in Shanghai, became a folk hero in China when he was tried and executed in 2008. Yang said he had been abused in custody when he was detained for stealing his own bicycle.

The revised regulations on evidence do not include measures sought by legal reformers to remove the rate of clearance - the solving of cases -- as a guage of police performance.

That could encourage police to resort to violence in order to "solve" cases and move them to trial, state-backed Xinhua noted in its English language report.

Source: Reuters, May 30, 2010