The number of criminal suspects under unlawfully extended custody, a major source of human rights violations, has been significantly reduced, a spokesperson said on Thursday.

"Public prosecutors' offices across the country will take tougher measures to root out the practice of unlawfully extended custody as soon as possible," said Zhang Zhongfang, spokesperson for the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Zhang said 95.9 percent of the 7,064 cases exposed had been resolved by last month and that none had been in illegal custody for more than three years.

This leaves 289 suspects still under illegally extended custody, Zhang said, most of whom are held in south China's Guangdong Province and Hebei and Shanxi provinces in the north.

It is a common practice for criminal suspects to be held in detention centers until the court makes its final judgment. This can result in police, public prosecutors and judges illegally holding a suspect in custody for longer than is allowed.

The legal period of custody for criminal suspects ranges from 14 days to six and a half months between the arrest and trial, under the Criminal Procedure Code. It is the responsibility of public prosecutors' offices to check such misdeeds.

The spokesperson said custody is sometimes prolonged because investigations into complex cases cannot be completed within the period set by law, though it can also be the result of corruption or dereliction of duty.

Zhang said that, because it usually takes longer to investigate organized crime and cases involving national security or foreign parties, the law should be revised.

Last year, the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Public Security and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly issued a notice for the review, resolution and prevention of illegally extended custody cases in every investigation and trial.

The procuratorate will further enhance awareness of human rights protection and procedural justice among judicial workers across the country, Zhang said.

The top public prosecutors' office will set up a long-term mechanism to prevent and correct possible cases of unlawful extended custody in the future, the spokesperson said.

(China Daily November 19, 2004)