Procuratorates to audiotape, videotape interrogation process
12/3/2006 11:20
China's procuratorates will phase in the practice of audiotape and
videotape interrogation of suspects in job-related crimes, China's
Procurator-General Jia Chunwang said in Beijing yesterday in his report to the
ongoing annual parliament session.
"It shows China has begun to use high
technology to collect criminal evidences," said Fan Chongyi, director of the
center on the research of procedural law with the China University of Political
Science and Law.
He said audio and video materials, which developed countries
started to use as evidences in litigation in the 1970s, help to cement validity
of confessions of suspects and also prevent inquisition by torture.
According
to a decision of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the job of audiotaping and
videotaping interrogation process will be introduced in the following three
phases:
The first phase starts from March 1, 2006, procuratorates across the
country began to audiotape the whole course of interrogation of suspects in
job-related crimes; the Supreme People's Procuratorate, provincial
procuratorates and some municipal procuratorates in the eastern areas began to
videotape the whole course of interrogation of suspects in bribery cases and key
job-related crimes.
In the second phase, some municipal procuratorates in
central and western regions and county procuratorates in the eastern region will
audiotape and videotape the whole course of interrogation of suspects in bribery
cases and key job-related crimes.
In the third phase, the whole course of
interrogation of suspects in job-related crimes will be audiotaped and
videotaped in all Chinese procuratorates from Oct. 1, 2007.
Che Chunbin, a
deputy to the Tenth National People's Congress ( NPC), said the new practice
reflects the spirit of China's Constitution to respect and guarantee human
rights.
At the ongoing NPC annual session, NPC deputies have proposed
introducing the practice in police interrogation of suspects.
"The entire
process of police interrogation in cases that may result in death penalties
should be videotaped to prevent police inquisition by torture," said NPC deputy
Yu Min in a proposal to the NPC.
The means of torture is "terrible" in some
cases, which led to very serious consequences, said Yu.
The case of She
Xianglin, a wrongly convicted man released after more than 10 years in jail,
aroused keen public attention last year. She, a former security guard in central
China's Hubei Province, was convicted of murdering his wife in 1994. But his
wife had actually fled home due to disappointment with her marriage.
His wife
reappeared in 2005 and cleared him of the charge. The Jingshan County Public
Security Bureau, which handled the case, gave 450,000 yuan (about US$56,000) to
She in compensation for his mental suffering and economic losses.
This and
other similar cases lead people to the thinking that the inquisition by torture
is involved in police interrogation.
"It's apparently not enough to merely
ask judicial staff to change their mindset," said Yu Min. "Necessary measures
are also needed."
Xinhua News
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