China to outlaw forced confessions
Print Edition
SUSPECTS must not be forced to confess to crimes and evidence collected in this way will be excluded, China’s government said yesterday in its latest effort to try to stamp out a widespread practice.
A document issued by the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and the public security, state security and justice ministries said the use of violence, threats or other illegal methods to obtain evidence or confessions must end.
“If investigating organs’ collection of material and documentary evidence does not accord with the legally set process, it could seriously affect justice,” it said.
“Prevent forced confessions, and do not force any person to verify their crimes,” the document said.
All interviews with suspects must be recorded and evidence extracted under torture would be ruled inadmissible, it added.
The move seeks to improve criminal procedures by enhancing the courts’ role in fact finding, identifying evidence, protecting rights and making impartial judgments.
Reform of criminal procedures began when the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in October 2014 decided to fully advance the rule of law.
The guidelines were approved at a key meeting of the leading group for overall reform on June 27 and the document was signed on July 20 by the court, the procuratorate and the three ministries.
The 21-clause document stresses the presumption of innocence; identifies several major problems in the current litigation system; puts forward a package of changes in the rules of evidence and investigation; and sets out the courts’ key role in protecting the rights of all interested parties.
Courts, procuratorates and police should cooperate to ensure innocent people are not wrongly convicted, the document said.
In particular, the fifth clause stipulates that interrogations should be improved to prevent forced confessions, also stating that authorities must not oblige any person to incriminate themselves.
The guidelines say courts should acknowledge reasonable doubt in criminal cases, and make decisions accordingly.
The reform reflects the requirements of modern criminal justice and clarifies the direction of China’s criminal procedure system, said Professor Bian Jianlin, head of the Procedural Law Research Institute at the China University of Political Science and Law.
Trial-centered reform of criminal procedures can optimize the allocation of posts and power in criminal justice, improve criminal procedures, transform the courts’ handling of criminal trials and prevent wrongful convictions, Bian said.
The reform came after a series of wrongful convictions undermined the credibility of China’s judicial system and triggered public outrage.
One high-profile wrongful conviction — and execution — was of teenager Huugjilt in Inner Mongolia. Huugjilt was found guilty of rape and murder in 1996 and executed. He was declared innocent in December 2014, over a decade after his wrongful conviction. The real killer was sentenced to death early last year.
In another case, a man from southwest China’s Sichuan Province, Wang Benyu, was sentenced to death with a reprieve for rape and murder by the Higher People’s Court in Inner Mongolia in 1994. He was not released until 2013, a year after the real culprit had been caught.
Experts believe trial-centered reform will change the practice of current investigation-centered criminal procedures which leave courts heavily reliant on files and records.
The old practice is prone to wrongful convictions, whereas in court trials it is more difficult to make incorrect decisions compared to investigation-based trials, said Li Fenfei, a professor at the Renmin University of China.
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