CAT/C/CHN/CO/4
page 3
9.
The Committee notes the statement by Wang Zhenchuan, the Deputy Procurator-General
of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate in November 2006 that “nearly every wrongful verdict in
recent years … involved … illegal interrogation”. In this regard, the Committee notes with
interest the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture’s observation that “the growing
willingness of officials and scholars to acknowledge China’s torture problem is a significant step
forward”. Efforts beginning with the publication of The Crime of Tortured Confession in the late
1990s have acknowledged the torture problem, inter alia by addressing wrongful convictions,
weak investigations, lack of professionalism in the police, and confessions extorted by torture,
and by the resumption by the Supreme People’s Court of its authority to review all death penalty
cases (see E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6, paras. 46-51).
10.
The Committee also welcomes the efforts made by non-governmental organizations,
national and international, to provide it with relevant reports and information, and encourages the
State party to strengthen further its cooperation with them with regard to the implementation of
the provisions of the Convention.
C. Subjects of concern and recommendations
Widespread torture and ill-treatment and insufficient safeguards during detention
11.
Notwithstanding the State party’s efforts to address the practice of torture and related
problems in the criminal justice system, the Committee remains deeply concerned about the
continued allegations, corroborated by numerous Chinese legal sources, of routine and
widespread use of torture and ill-treatment of suspects in police custody, especially to extract
confessions or information to be used in criminal proceedings. Furthermore, the Committee
notes with concern the lack of legal safeguards for detainees, including:
(a)
Failure to bring detainees promptly before a judge, thus keeping them in
prolonged police detention without charge for up to 37 days or in some cases for longer periods;
(b)
Absence of systematic registration of all detainees and failure to keep records of
all periods of pretrial detention;
(c)
Restricted access to lawyers and independent doctors and failure to notify
detainees of their rights at the time of detention, including their rights to contact family
members;
(d)
Continued reliance on confessions as a common form of evidence for prosecution,
thus creating conditions that may facilitate the use of torture and ill-treatment of suspects, as in
the case of Yang Chunlin. Furthermore, while the Committee appreciates that the Supreme Court
has issued several decisions to prevent the use of confessions obtained under torture as evidence
before the courts, Chinese Criminal procedure law still does not contain an explicit prohibition of
such practice, as required by article 15 of the Convention;
(e)
The lack of an effective independent monitoring mechanism on the situation of
detainees (arts. 2, 11 and 15).
As a matter of urgency, the State party should take immediate steps to prevent acts of
torture and ill-treatment throughout the country.