Guidelines aim to stop judges from getting it wrong
Print Edition
China for the first time has issued guidelines aimed at preventing wrongful or unjust court judgments in response to high-profile judicial scandals.
Issued yesterday by the Communist Party’s Commission for Political and Legal Affairs, the guidelines reiterate some legal principles, including those preventing punishment for people whose guilt can not be absolutely established.
The guidelines also stipulate that judges, prosecutors and police will bear “life-long responsibility” for any role they play in wrongful judgments.
The guidelines stress that for cases in which there is not enough evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, the court should pronounce defendants not guilty, rather than issuing a judgment based on insufficient evidence.
They also reiterate articles in the Criminal Procedural Law which stipulate that interrogations should be conducted in interrogation rooms in detention houses, with audio or video recordings of the entire process.
When investigative organs transfer a case through the chain of command, all evidence should be transferred, regardless of whether it proves a suspect’s guilt or not, according to the guidelines.
One of the latest cases of wrongful judgment was that of Zhang Hui and his uncle Zhang Gaoping.
Zhang Hui was sentenced to death and Zhang Gaoping given life in prison at the Hangzhou Municipal Intermediate People’s Court on April 21, 2004 for the rape of a 17-year-old girl.
Their sentences were later commuted to a death sentence with a two-year reprieve for Zhang Hui and a 15-year prison term for Zhang Gaoping by the Higher People’s Court of Zhejiang Province on October 19, 2004.
On March 26 this year, both men were acquitted after a retrial found insufficient evidence to support their conviction.
Chen Weidong, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University in Beijing, said: “Compared with correcting miscarriages of justice, it’s more pressing and important to work out preventive measures.”
Asking judges, procurators and police officers to bear “life-long responsibility” for their roles in wrongful judgments will make them more meticulous when seeking proof, the law professor said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
