Moves to strengthen the rule of law

The protection of criminal suspects' human rights directly reflects how high the level of rule of law and judiciary is in a country. On Feb 10, 2015, the Supreme People's Court and Ministry of Public Security jointly issued a notice that defendants and appellants should not be made to wear detention house uniforms in court. This is one example of the improvement in criminal suspects' human rights in China in recent years.

China revised the Criminal Procedure Law in 2012, banned the practice of extorting confessions through torture and made it mandatory for public security authorities to meet criminal suspects' basic needs. The law has a new article which forbids public security departments from forcing criminal suspects to admit their crimes.

Public security departments have been told to video-record the entire process of questioning of criminal suspects in important cases. These measures will prevent extortion of confession through torture, and presentation of unsubstantiated evidence.

The new building standards for detention centers took effect several years ago. China has also strengthened the administration and supervision of detention houses and, among other things, taken measures to ensure detainees to get proper medical care.

More than 1,700 detention houses in China have established legal aid and consultation centers to serve criminal suspects and their families. Besides, lawyer-suspect relations have been redefined to ensure criminal suspects to enjoy the right to defense in a court. Revising the Criminal Procedure Law in 2012, China's top legislature said the procuratorate should listen to the opinions of criminal suspects and their lawyers while approving the arrests. Also, during the course of investigation, criminal suspects can hire and consult lawyers.

With the deepening of the judicial reform, it is expected that criminal suspects' human rights will be better protected.

Zheng Zhihang is a researcher on human rights studies at Shandong University