Deputy Procurator-General calls on Sunday for protecting
suspects' rights by eliminating illegal interrogation by atrocious
torture.
Wang Zhenchuan, Deputy Procurator-General of the Supreme
People's Procuratorate, said illegal interrogation exists in some
extent in local judicial practice. "Nearly every wrongful
verdiction in recent years is involved in illegal interrogation,"
he said.
China records some 30 cases with wrongful verdictions due to
illegal interrogation each year, but Wang said the real number
could be higher.
Wang Zhenchuan made the remarks here at a seminar on illegal
interrogation and wrongful verdiction, south China's island
province Hainan.
The Supreme People's Procuratorate has embarked on a campaign to
clean up illegal interrogation. According to a regulation it
decreed in March, synchronous video and audio recordings shall be
adopted during interrogation in major cases, murder and gang crimes
for instance, by procuratorates at all levels.
Chen Lianfu, director of the anti-malfeasance office of the
Supreme People's Procuratorate, said that enforcing the current
regulations is key to reducing illegal interrogation and preventing
wrongful verdictions.
He Jiahong, professor on law study and president of the Law
School of Renmin University, suggested that China should borrow
other countries' practice for reference and authority should take
the rights of both victims and suspects into consideration.
(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2006)