Official calls for protection of suspects' rights

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-11-20 10:16

China's Deputy Procurator-General calls on Sunday for protecting suspects' rights by eliminating illegal interrogation by atrocious torture.

Wang Zhenchuan, Deputy Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said illegal interrogation exists in some extent in local judicial practice. "Nearly every wrongful verdiction in recent years is involved in illegal interrogation," he said.

China records some 30 cases with wrongful verdictions due to illegal interrogation each year, but Wang said the real number could be higher.

Wang Zhenchuan made the remarks here at a seminar on illegal interrogation and wrongful verdiction, south China's island province Hainan.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate has embarked on a campaign to clean up illegal interrogation. According to a regulation it decreed in March, synchronous video and audio recordings shall be adopted during interrogation in major cases, murder and gang crimes for instance, by procuratorates at all levels.

Chen Lianfu, director of the anti-malfeasance office of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said that enforcing the current regulations is key to reducing illegal interrogation and preventing wrongful verdictions.

He Jiahong, professor on law study and president of the Law School of Renmin University, suggested that China should borrow other countries' practice for reference and authority should take the rights of both victims and suspects into consideration.

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Some hail while some wail


She Xianglin is earnest for the sun shine while his eye disease affected in jail makes him allergic to it. [China Youth Daily]

She Xianglin sits at the roadside of his hometown, feeling unfit into a normal life and overwhelmingly lonely. [China Youth Daily]

In loving and sorrowful memory of his late mother She sits in silence. [China Youth Daily]

She Xianglin burns incense kneeling down in front of mom's grave. [China Youth Daily]

11-year wrongful imprisonment has left She with a deformed left hand. [China Youth Daily]

Accompanied only by cigarettes She Xianglin lives a loney life in his room. [China Youth Daily]

Life ahead of She is hard to confront. [China Youth Daily]

She is seen in front of a iron hedge. [China Youth Daily]


"I can only listen to TV programs now," said 39-year-old She Xianglin with a deep sigh, desperation and disheartening melancholy grasping his worn face.

After 11 years of wrongful imprisonment She was released on April 1 after his wife that She had been convicted of murdering resurfaced, seemingly alive and well.

In 1994 She was forced to confess the "crime" under torture from corrupt police officers.

Settled in a rented room of a deserted building on the southern outskirt of his hometown, She said he's like a fish out of water.

"I've got nowhere to although I have regained my overdue freedom," He said, occasionally covering his cheeks with both hands as they hurt whenever he speaks a lot.

The 11-hard-years behind bars has left him with a deformed index finger on his left hand.

Due to an eye disease he got in jail, She has a very poor sight, which confines him to his small room all day long.

She's grievance has kindled sincere sympathy among the public. Many from all parts of China write to comfort him and encourage him to face his new life bravely.

Impressing him most among more than 300 letters piled neatly on his desk is a marriage proposal from a Shenzhen woman.

Police in Central China's Hubei Province agreed to pay compensation of 450,000 yuan (US$55,500) to She Xianglin and his family.



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