Human rights get emphasis in revised law
Source: Xinhua |
March 15, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA amended the Criminal Procedure Law and highlighted human rights protection, eight years after the principle was explicitly written into the Constitution.
The National People's Congress, China's parliament, overwhelmingly adopted the amendment yesterday at the closing meeting of the annual parliamentary session.
The phrase of "respecting and protecting human rights" is written in the revised law's first chapter on aim and basic principles.
"The highlight of this revision is to better embody the constitutional principle of respecting and protecting human rights," said Wang Liming, deputy president of Renmin University of China and an NPC deputy.
Personal freedom should be honored as the most essential human right, Wang said, adding that the revised law protects suspects and defendants from illegal restriction, detention and arrest.
China's current Criminal Procedure Law was enacted in 1979 and first amended in 1996. Over the years, many lawmakers submitted motions and suggestions urging the law's revision, and law enforcement departments also expressed similar opinions.
Since China is in a transition period with a high incidence of conflicts, problems emerging in judicial practice require the law to be improved, said Professor Chen Weidong of the Law School of Renmin University of China, who took part in drafting the amendment.
Several high-profile cases, in which innocent people were convicted of serious crimes, have exposed weakness in law enforcement, especially concerning forced confession. In 2010, the story of Zhao Zuohai, a villager in central Henan Province, roused national sympathy as he had spent 10 years in prison for murdering a man who was actually alive.
Zhao was freed from prison after the supposed victim showed up alive. That led to the arrest of three former police officers for torturing Zhao into confessing to a crime that never happened.
Under the revised law, no one will be forced to prove his or her own guilt, and there are provisions on how to rule out illegal evidence. For the first time, the law makes it clear that confessions extorted through illegal means, such as torture, and witness testimony and depositions of victims obtained illegally, such as by violence or threats, should be excluded from trials.
The National People's Congress, China's parliament, overwhelmingly adopted the amendment yesterday at the closing meeting of the annual parliamentary session.
The phrase of "respecting and protecting human rights" is written in the revised law's first chapter on aim and basic principles.
"The highlight of this revision is to better embody the constitutional principle of respecting and protecting human rights," said Wang Liming, deputy president of Renmin University of China and an NPC deputy.
Personal freedom should be honored as the most essential human right, Wang said, adding that the revised law protects suspects and defendants from illegal restriction, detention and arrest.
China's current Criminal Procedure Law was enacted in 1979 and first amended in 1996. Over the years, many lawmakers submitted motions and suggestions urging the law's revision, and law enforcement departments also expressed similar opinions.
Since China is in a transition period with a high incidence of conflicts, problems emerging in judicial practice require the law to be improved, said Professor Chen Weidong of the Law School of Renmin University of China, who took part in drafting the amendment.
Several high-profile cases, in which innocent people were convicted of serious crimes, have exposed weakness in law enforcement, especially concerning forced confession. In 2010, the story of Zhao Zuohai, a villager in central Henan Province, roused national sympathy as he had spent 10 years in prison for murdering a man who was actually alive.
Zhao was freed from prison after the supposed victim showed up alive. That led to the arrest of three former police officers for torturing Zhao into confessing to a crime that never happened.
Under the revised law, no one will be forced to prove his or her own guilt, and there are provisions on how to rule out illegal evidence. For the first time, the law makes it clear that confessions extorted through illegal means, such as torture, and witness testimony and depositions of victims obtained illegally, such as by violence or threats, should be excluded from trials.
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