China issues new rules banning evidence obtained through torture in death penalty cases

New rules ban illegal evidence in China courts

BEIJING — China has issued new rules saying evidence obtained illegally — such as through torture — cannot be used in death penalty cases and other criminal prosecutions.

The new regulations — posted on the central government’s website Sunday — make it clear that evidence with unclear origins, confessions obtained through torture, and testimony acquired through violence and threats are invalid, particularly in death penalty cases.

It is the first time China has explicitly stated that evidence obtained under torture or duress is illegal and inadmissible in court. The move is expected to help cut down on death sentences and reduce forced confessions.

“Since the system was not perfect, the standards on reinforcing the law were not unified and the law executors were not equally competent. Problems occurred in the handling of cases and they should not be ignored,” according to a statement on the website.

The new rules make it clear that evidence with unclear origins, confessions obtained through torture or testimony obtained through violence and threats are invalid, particularly in death penalty cases.

The regulations were released jointly by the Supreme People’s Court, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Justice, according to a statement on the website.

China executes more people annually than any country in the world, though it does not release an official count. Rights group Amnesty International estimated China put at least 1,718 people to death in 2008.

In 2008, China’s top court said about 15 percent of death sentence verdicts by lower courts were found to have problems, the China Daily newspaper reported Monday.

Legal experts in China say the new rules constitute major progress in protecting the legal rights of defendants.

“The issue of illegally obtained evidence has long been a controversial one in China and now they made a big step forward in this respect,” said Fan Yu, a law professor at Renmin University Law School who specializes in the judicial system.

The rulings are especially important for death penalty cases, where a flawed system has led to the deaths of several criminal suspects by torture in detention centers.

“Death sentences are irreversible. Any tiny mistake could cost people’s lives,” she said. “There’s serious lesson to be drawn from those cases.”

The frequent use of torture by police to obtain confessions was highlighted earlier this month in the case of Zhao Zuohai, a man who spent 11 years in jail after being beaten into confessing the murder of a man who wasn’t even dead.

After the man he supposedly killed returned to their hometown in central Henan province, Zhao, 57, was freed and given $96,000 in government compensation. After his release, Zhao said he was forced to confess because police beat him during interrogations and deprived him of sleep for days.

The case put an embarrassing spotlight on China’s often corrupt justice system. Three police officers accused of torturing Zhao have been arrested, while the chief justice who presided over the case was suspended pending further investigation.

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Associated Press researcher Zhao Liang contributed to this report.

Online: www.gov.cn. (in Chinese)