Despite being blanketed in controversy, the mainland's amended Criminal Procedure Law was passed by legislators last month with clauses that rights advocates find troubling and legal reformers say are disappointing.
With these flaws now enshrined in statute, it is be hoped there will be a judicial interpretation or implementation guidelines issued before the law comes into effect in January, to minimise the risk of these clauses being abused.
Two ongoing high-profile cases indicate the kind of procedural injustices that will continue if the guidelines are not detailed enough, if they don't take into consideration concerns that have been raised by legal professionals, and if authorities do not do more to make sure police, prosecutors and judges comply with the law.
The first is the 'Beihai four lawyers' perjury case, which points to how the new article 73 of the Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) on residential surveillance could be abused, as it permits surveillance to take place at a location other than the detainee's usual residence if he or she doesn't have a fixed home, or if the case is deemed to concern state security or terrorism.
In June, four lawyers in Beihai, Guangxi province, were detained after their clients, defendants in a murder trial, retracted their confessions, claiming they had been tortured. In the end, lawyer Yang Zaixin was arrested for tampering with evidence.
In mid-March, just after the passing of the amended CPL and after nine months of detention, he was finally allowed to meet his family, as prosecutors agreed to change his detention location from a police facility to a residential one, which should have been his home, even under the current CPL guidelines. However, he was instead locked up in a flat in Beihai's Haicheng district - the location of the office of the prosecutor in charge of investigating his case. Prosecutors said this was justified, even though Yang had a home in the city. Even though residential surveillance is meant to be a more relaxed alternative to detention, Yang remains guarded by four men at all times and is not allowed to leave the flat or communicate with anyone - at most he might wave to visiting friends from behind bars installed on the flat's balcony.
His wife did not even learn he had been moved to a new location until she saw it on the news on March 21. After complaining, she was finally allowed to meet him the next day.