Beijing (
AsiaNews) - The Chinese People's Supreme Court has stated that "a confession
obtained through torture" is a practice "that should be removed from
the national judicial system . Courts must be able to decide without the interference
of local governments". The
decision is contained in the new Court guidelines, decided and made public
after four days of closed-door meetings.
The
text reads: "extracting confessions through torture - such as the use of
cold, hunger, drying, scorching, fatigue and other illegal methods to obtain
confessions from accused - must be weeded out." The
invitation is also published on the Court's official microblog directed at
courts "at every level" throughout the country.
At
the same time more stringent rules for the judgments regarding the death
sentence have also been defined, which must be pronounced only after "adequate
proof" has been provided, the Court also invites colleagues to entrust
such cases to "more experienced judges. Evidence should be evaluated. The traditional
practice that favors the prevalence of witnesses over evidence needs to be
changed in favor of the examination and the use of circumstantial evidence .
"
The
question of the use of torture has long been debated in Chinese society. Although
the government has repeatedly responded to charges laid by international
organizations that cases
of torture "are rare ", it still will not allow any
inspector to enter prisons, despite the hundreds of complaints of ill-treatment
by prison authorities submitted by lawyers and dissidents each year.
The
extra- judicial abuses to obtain confessions also increased with the new powers
granted by the government of Hu Jintao under the dreaded Central Commission for
Discipline and Inspection. The
body is the "watchdog" of the party, a sort of body above the law
that has the power to detain without court order any person suspected of
violations of any kind. In
recent months the trial against six CCP officials who tortured to death a state
manager suspected of corruption caused widespread scandal in China.
According
to the lawyer Si Weijiang , the reforms announced by the Supreme Court will be
put into practice "with difficulty . The judicial system needs a basic
restructuring if it is to be truly independent . Vague and moderated guidelines
are not enough. Nothing can change until
the power stays in the hands of the same group of officials . "