BEIJING - China's highest court has published details of a regulation banning the admission of confessions obtained through torture in criminal trials.
The rule comes after a man who was wrongly jailed for murder was released last month when the victim turned up alive and well 10 years later.
It is one of the two regulations issued by the Supreme People's Court Thursday to prevent further miscarriages of justice and tighten the conviction criteria in capital cases.
The regulations focus on corroboration of physical evidence and human testimony in death penalty cases.
The regulation on principles and detailed rules for scrutinizing evidence in death penalty cases states that all physical evidence for the prosecution and defense should be revealed, identified and open to question in court.
Every item of evidence should be verified through legal procedures.
The other regulation sets out detailed procedures for examining evidence and stipulates that confessions obtained through torture and other violent measures from a defendant are inadmissible.
The rules were released by five ministries and judicial organs at the end of May, following the case of a "killer" wrongfully jailed for a murder that never occurred.
Zhao Zuohai was acquitted after serving 10 years in jail for murder in Central Henan Province after the "victim," Zhao Zhenshang, reappeared alive.
Three former police officers were arrested for allegedly torturing Zhao Zuohai into confessing to a crime that never happened.
"Judicial practice in recent years shows that slack and improper methods have been used to gather, examine and exclude evidence in various cases, especially those involving the death penalty," said a statement jointly released by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Justice.
Iran on war alert over “US and Israeli concentrations” in Azerbaijan
ΑπάντησηΔιαγραφήDEBKAfile
June 24, 2010
In a rare move, Iran has declared a state of war on its northwestern border, debkafile’s military and Iranian sources report. Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps men and equipment units are being massed in the Caspian Sea region against what Tehran claims are US and Israeli forces concentrated on army and air bases in Azerbaijan ready to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The announcement came on Tuesday, June 22 from Brig.-Gen Mehdi Moini of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), commander of the forces tasked with “repelling” this American-Israeli offensive. He said: “The mobilization is due to the presence of American and Israeli forces on the western border,” adding, “Reinforcements are being dispatched to West Azerbaijan Province because some western countries are fueling ethnic conflicts to destabilize the situation in the region.”
In the past, Iranian officials have spoken of US and Israel attacks in general terms. debkafile’s Iranian sources note that this is the first time that a specific location was mentioned and large reinforcements dispatched to give the threat substance.
Other Iranian sources report that in the last few days, Israel has secretly transferred a large number of bomber jets to bases in Azerbaijan, via Georgia, and that American special forces are also concentrated in Azerbaijan in preparation for a strike.
No comment has come from Azerbaijan about any of these reports. Iranian Azerbaijan, the destination of the Revolutionary Guards forces reinforcements, borders on Turkey, Iraq and Armenia. Witnesses say long IRGC convoys of tanks, artillery, anti-aircraft units and infantry are seen heading up the main highways to Azerbaijan and then further north to the Caspian Sea.