Three Chinese Districts Experiment With New Protections for Suspects During Interrogation

May 31, 2005

Public security offices in three Chinese districts have launched a pilot project that will allow criminal suspects to request the presence of an attorney for audio and videotaping during criminal interrogations, according to an article in the Legal Daily. Scholars from the Procedural Research Center at the Chinese University of Politics and Law in Beijing, which reportedly designed the project, chose Haidian district, Beijing; Baiyin district, Gansu; and Jiaozhu city, Henan as the three pilot districts. In at least one of the districts, organizers appear to have enlisted local law firms to assist.

Public security offices in three Chinese districts have launched a pilot project that will allow criminal suspects to request the presence of an attorney for audio and videotaping during criminal interrogations, according to an article in the Legal Daily. Scholars from the Procedural Research Center at the Chinese University of Politics and Law in Beijing, which reportedly designed the project, chose Haidian district, Beijing; Baiyin district, Gansu; and Jiaozhu city, Henan as the three pilot districts. In at least one of the districts, organizers appear to have enlisted local law firms to assist.

Chinese legal scholars have long advocated such measures as a way to address the problem of torture, which is widespread in China. The issue has taken on increased prominence in recent months, as news of several wrongful convictions blamed in part on confessions coerced through torture has prompted domestic scrutiny of the criminal justice system and calls for protections against torture.