China’s government tries again to stop forced confessions through torture
Suspects must not be forced into confessing crimes and any evidence collected in this way should be excluded from legal cases, the Chinese government said on Monday in its latest effort to try and stamp out the widespread practice.
China has long tried to eliminate a problem that regularly attracts international condemnation and has put a brake on Beijing’s efforts to extradite corruption suspects that have fled to Western countries.
“If [an] 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, released by Xinhua said.
All interviews with suspects must be recorded and evidence extracted under torture would be ruled inadmissible, it said.
Rights advocates have long called on Beijing to better safeguard the rights of the accused.
Coercing confessions through torture and other means is a persistent practice, with some defendants in high-profile cases confessing to crimes in public before trials have taken place.
Several defendants caught up in an ongoing crackdown on human rights lawyers have appeared on state television confessing to details of their crimes.
While it has been impossible to verify whether these televised confessions were made under duress, the practice has drawn concern from rights groups and Western capitals.