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)