As of March 1, 2006, China's procurators will dispatch special
technicians to make live recordings of the interrogation of
criminals suspected of job-related crimes, so as to ensure that
confessions be not extorted by torture.
The information was disclosed by Wang Zhenchuan, vice
procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) at
an on-going national meeting on supervising job-related crimes
interrogation in Ningbo of east China's Zhejiang Province.
He also said that as of October 1, 2007, procurators will make
real-time videos of all interrogations concerning job-related
crimes, which mainly include graft and dereliction of duty.
"Objectively recording and filming interrogations concerning
job-related crimes will help prevent violations of the law during
interrogation, help ensure the accuracy of key evidence and prevent
criminal suspects from revoking confessions or bringing false
charges against interrogators. What's more, new clues may be found
by repeatedly watching the videotapes," said Wang.
Investigating job-related crimes, such as graft and dereliction
of duty, is one of the key supervision functions of China's
prosecuting bodies and an important part of the country's fight
against corruption. Ensuring objective interrogation will also help
fight corruption, said Wang.
He stressed that interrogations should be recorded live and in
whole. No detail should be skipped. No one should edit the raw
videotape materials without authorization. The recording and
videotape materials should be kept confidential.
Technicians or procurators who take responsibility for recording
or videoing will be forbidden to have dealings with the
interrogators. If illegal editing of the video or audio files is
discovered, the procurators concerned will be referred to a
disciplinary hearing.
Li Guifang, vice director of the Criminal Committee of the
All-China Lawyers Association, said recording or videotaping
interrogations concerning job-related crimes was a significant
start. If it proves successful and is extended to interrogations
for all kinds of criminal cases, it will be a big step forward in
preventing the abuse of power by interrogators.
The phenomenon of policemen extorting confessions from criminal
suspects by torture has been repeatedly exposed and reported by
Chinese media in recent years, leading to a public outcry.
(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2006)