China: Torture and forced confessions rampant
China: Torture and forced confessions rampant amid systematic trampling of lawyers’ rights
China’s criminal justice system is still heavily reliant on forced confessions obtained through torture and ill-treatment, with lawyers who persist in raising claims of abuse often threatened, harassed, or even detained and tortured themselves, Amnesty International said in a new report released today.
In a system where even lawyers can end up being tortured by the police, what hope can ordinary defendants have?”
The report, No End in Sight, documents how criminal justice reforms hailed as human rights advances by the Chinese government have in reality done little to change the deep-rooted practice of torturing suspects to extract forced confessions. Attempts by defence lawyers to raise or investigate torture claims continue to be systematically thwarted by police, prosecutors and the courts.
“In a system where even lawyers can end up being tortured by the police, what hope can ordinary defendants have?” said Patrick Poon, China Researcher at Amnesty International.
“Papering over a justice system that is not independent, where the police remain all-powerful and where there is no recourse when the rights of the defendants are trampled upon will do little to curb the scourge of torture and ill-treatment in China. If the government is serious about improving human rights it must start holding law enforcement agencies to account when they commit abuses.”
Lawyers from across China told Amnesty International of the retribution they faced when they challenged law enforcement authorities. Lawyers pointed to fundamental flaws in the justice system that allow police officers, prosecutors and other officials to circumvent new safeguards designed to prevent forced confessions leading to wrongful convictions. Chinese legal experts estimate that less than 20% of all criminal defendants have legal representation.
“The government seems more concerned about the potential embarrassment wrongful convictions can cause than about curbing torture in detention,” said Patrick Poon.
“For the police, obtaining a confession is still the easiest way to secure a conviction. Until lawyers are allowed to do their jobs without fear of reprisals, torture will remain rampant in China.”
The report documents torture and ill-treatment in pre-trial detention, including beatings by police or by other detainees with the officers’ knowledge or upon their orders. Tools of torture described include iron restraint chairs, tiger benches – in which individuals’ legs are tightly bound to a bench, with bricks gradually added under the victim’s feet, forcing the legs backwards – as well as long periods of sleep deprivation and the denial of sufficient food and water.
I was strapped to an iron chair, slapped in the face, kicked on my legs and hit so hard over the head with a plastic bottle filled with water that I passed out.
With China’s record on torture set to be scrutinized by the United Nations’ expert anti-torture committee in Geneva next week, the government has claimed the authorities have “always encouraged and supported lawyers in performing their duties” and denied any “retaliation”.
Tang Jitian, a former prosecutor and lawyer in Beijing, told Amnesty International he was tortured by local security officials in March 2014, when he and three other lawyers investigated alleged torture at a secret detention facility – known as a “black jail” – in Jiansanjiang, north-eastern China.
“I was strapped to an iron chair, slapped in the face, kicked on my legs and hit so hard over the head with a plastic bottle filled with water that I passed out,” he said.
Tang Jitian was later hooded, his arms handcuffed behind his back and suspended off the ground by his wrists as police beat him.
Yu Wensheng, a lawyer from Beijing, was arrested on 13 October 2014 and detained for 99 days by police. He told Amnesty International he was questioned approximately 200 times, with 10 public security officials assigned to interrogate him in three shifts every day. His wrists were shackled behind his back with the handcuffs deliberately set far too tight.
“My hands were swollen and I felt so much pain that I didn’t want to live. The police officers repeatedly yanked the handcuffs and I would scream,” he said.
Secret detention and torture
Legal experts told Amnesty International that the extraction of confessions through torture remains entrenched in pre-trial detention, in particular in political cases, such as those involving dissidents, ethnic minorities or those involved in religious activities.
The report shows that over the past two years the authorities have made increasing use of a new form of incommunicado detention called “residential surveillance in a designated location”, that was formalized in law in 2013 when revisions to China’s Criminal Procedure Law took effect.
Under this system, people suspected of terrorism, major bribery or state security offences can be held outside the formal detention system at an undisclosed location for up to six months, with no contact with the outside world, leaving the detainee at grave risk of torture and other ill-treatment.
Twelve lawyers and activists caught up in the ongoing crackdown against human rights and legal activists are currently being held in “residential surveillance in a designated location” on state security charges. Amnesty International considers all of them to be at serious risk of torture and ill-treatment and has called for the Chinese government to release them and drop all charges against them.
Resisting reform
Despite several rounds of reform since 2010, the definition of torture under Chinese law remains inadequate and in contravention of international law. Chinese law still only prohibits certain acts of torture, such as “using violence to obtain a witness statement” and by certain law enforcement officials, other perpetrators can only be charged as accessories. Mental torture is not explicitly prohibited in Chinese law as is required under international law.
The majority of lawyers interviewed for this report cited the lack of judicial independence and the pre-eminent power of the public security agencies as one of the main obstacles in seeking justice in claims of torture. Local political and legal committees, made up of local Communist Party officials, wield considerable influence in determining the outcome of politically sensitive court cases. When a committee wants a conviction, claims of torture are ignored by the court and the perpetrators are rarely held to account.
Lawyers who spoke to Amnesty International denounced the continued inability to get claims of torture raised in court, to obtain genuine investigations by the state prosecutors, let alone independent bodies, or for forced confessions to be excluded as evidence at trial.
“Local officials and police continue to pull the strings of China’s criminal justice system. Despite defence lawyers’ best efforts, many claims of torture are simply ignored for the sake of political convenience,” said Patrick Poon.
“Police wield too much unchecked power, with the result that measures to curb torture are not having the necessary impact.”
Torture and unlawful “evidence”
In an attempt to analyse how courts in China deal with allegations of extracting “confessions” through torture since the introduction of reforms designed to exclude torture-tainted evidence, Amnesty International reviewed hundreds of court documents that have been made available on China’s Supreme People’s Court national online database.
Out of a sample of 590 cases in which allegations of torture were made, forced confessions were excluded in only 16 cases, with one leading to an acquittal and the rest ending in convictions on the basis of other evidence. These low number of cases in which evidence obtained through torture was excluded appears to corroborate lawyers’ claims that forced confessions continue to be presented as evidence in court, and that unlawfully obtained evidence is not excluded by judges.
Under international and China’s domestic law the burden of proof lies with prosecutors to show that evidence was obtained lawfully. In practice however, courts routinely dismiss allegations of torture if the defendant cannot prove them.
The report presents a series of detailed recommendations. In particular, in order to end the use of torture and other ill-treatment in China’s criminal justice system, Amnesty International is calling on the Chinese government to:
- Ensure lawyers and legal activists are able to carry out their work without harassment, intimidation, arbitrary restrictions and fear of detention, torture and other ill-treatment or criminal prosecution.
- Ensure that no statement obtained under torture or other ill-treatment is used as evidence in any proceedings.
- Bring Chinese law, policy and practice into line with the absolute prohibition against torture and other ill-treatment under international law.
- https://www.amnesty.org/
Yemen loyalists killed 13 rebels in ambush
ADEN: Pro-government forces on Wednesday killed 13 rebel fighters in an ambush in Yemen´s south after the insurgents took back several positions in the area, a military source said.
The Huthi rebels were travelling in two military vehicles south of Damt, the Daleh province´s second-largest city, which they and their allies recaptured on Saturday.
Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi attacked them with rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns, the source said.
The loyalists, backed by Saudi-led coalition strikes, supplies and troops, pushed the rebels out of Daleh and four other southern provinces in July.
But the rebels this weekend recaptured several positions in the south.
Battles continued in the area Wednesday as the rebels were trying to advance on Daleh´s provincial capital, which carries the same name, the military source told AFP.
Other fighting flared in Al-Madaribah on the border between the neighbouring Lahj and Taez provinces, leaving five rebels and three loyalist fighters dead over the past 24 hours, military sources said.
The coalition, formed in March to halt the rebels´ advance across Yemen, has dispatched military reinforcements to Al-Madaribah to prevent it falling to rebel hands, the sources said.
Late Tuesday rebels fired Katyusha rockets at regional military headquarters held by loyalist troops in the oil-rich Marib province east of the capital Sanaa without causing casualties, a military source there said.
Around 5,000 people have been killed in the conflict since March, more than half of them civilians, according to UN estimates.
A new round of UN-brokered Yemen talks to end the conflict is expected to kick off in Geneva or Muscat around mid-November.
State Development Monitor
October,2015
Significant developments in states have been observed at various fronts such as economic development, agriculture, infrastructure, tourism and health. Punjab deputy Chief Minister Shri Sukhbir Singh Badal ji reported that the state government of Punjab would soon come up with a new policy under “Make in Punjab ” to encourage the local industry with growth incentives. We look forward to its effective implementation in the coming times.
On agricultural front, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has sanctioned a loan of Rs 134.64 crore to the Haryana government under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund for 2015-16.
On infrastructural front, the Punjab government has approved a proposal to extend fiscal incentives to units located in industrial zones, benefitting small and medium enterprises in the state. The fiscal sops under the revised Fiscal Incentives for Industrial Promotion 2013 Policy were available only to units that were located in industrial parks. This step would be instrumental in giving a fillip to small and medium scale industries.
Government of India and KFW, Federal Republic of Germany have signed Loan Agreements worth Euro 125 Millions for KFW assisted Himachal and Andhra Pradesh Green Energy Corridors’ Projects. With the Green Energy Corridors, the intra-State network will feed the renewable energy to the respective State grids and the high capacity transmission corridors and inter-State network will connect major renewable energy pockets with the national grid.
The Cabinet also approved the ‘The Punjab Development of Trade and Industries Ordinance, 2015’ for the creation of fund to be utilized for the execution of several works for the purpose of development of trade, commerce and industry in the state such as development of industrial estates, focal points and industrial clusters being developed by the government, to provide infrastructure to the trade and industry, financial incentives, grants, subsidies etc.
Further on tourism front, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir , Shri Mufti Mohammad Sayeed ji recently asked top brass of the administration to connect Bhaderwah tourist spot with Himachal Pradesh through Chamba district and Punjab through Pathankot-Lakhanpur-Bani to attract more tourists, which would boost economy of not only Bhaderwah but entire Chenab Valley .
The SDM for the month of October is attached for your kind perusal.
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Modi UK itinerary listed
Modi UK itinerary listed are a special tricolour flypast by the Red Arrows Royal Air Force (RAF) Aerobatic Team over Buckingham Palace before the Prime Minister sits down for lunch with Queen Elizabeth II on Friday afternoon before making his way to Wembley Stadium in north London for the mega Diaspora reception.Modi leaves for Ankara to attend the G20 summit on Saturday after inaugurating a new statue of 12th century philosopher Basaveshwara as well as a new Ambedkar memorial in London.
A visit to the Tata Motors’ owned Jaguar Land Rover factory in Solihull, in the West Midlands region of England, will be the last item on his UK agenda.
The 2015-16 NBA Development League season tips off Thursday
, Nov. 12, with the Westchester Knicks hosting the Maine Red Claws at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, N.Y. Below is information that can be used when speaking about the start of the NBA D-League season with business associates, family, or friends. These themes will also be posted on Home Court. For more information,read this comprehensive offseason recap and the NBA D-League fact sheet.
North of the Border: The 2015-16 NBA D-League season will feature an all-time high 19 teams with the addition of Raptors 905, the affiliate of the Toronto Raptors. The team will play its home games at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, about an hour southwest of Toronto.
NBA Affiliated: For the first time, all NBA D-League teams are either owned or operated by their NBA parent clubs. During the offseason, the Indiana Pacers bought the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, while the Utah Jazz purchased the Idaho Stampede. NBA teams that do not have a direct affiliation with an NBA D-League team can assign players to the NBA D-League using the flexible assignment system.
Record Numbers: A record 132 players on NBA start-of-season rosters – almost 30% – spent time in the NBA D-League. Each NBA team has at least one former NBA D-League player, with the Detroit Pistons leading the way with eight NBA D-League alumni. NBA head coaches Dave Joerger (Memphis) and Quin Snyder (Utah) and 33 NBA assistant coaches across 22 NBA teams also spent time in the NBA D-League on their way to NBA benches.
Testing Ground: The NBA D-League continues to be the NBA’s research and development arm, testing innovative rules like the Coaches’ Challenge and the Advance Rule, both of which were implemented prior to the 2014-15 season.
A Season to Develop: Six members of the 2015 NBA draft class are spending the season in the NBA D-League playing for their NBA team’s affiliate. Cady Lalanne (San Antonio Spurs/Austin Spurs), Sir’Dominic Pointer (Cleveland Cavaliers/Canton Charge), Tyler Harvey (Orlando Magic/Erie BayHawks), Andrew Harrison (Memphis Grizzlies/Iowa Energy), Dakari Johnson (Oklahoma City Thunder/Oklahoma City Blue), and Satnam Singh (Dallas Mavericks/Texas Legends) will all use the 2015-16 season to develop their games in the NBA’s official minor league.
Coaches’ Corner: Texas Legends Head Coach Nick Van Exel is one of eight new head coaches in the NBA D-League this season. He becomes one of a number of former NBA players to use the NBA D-League to hone his coaching skills, including Golden State Interim Head Coach Luke Walton and NBA assistant coaches Darvin Ham (Atlanta), Robert Pack (New Orleans) and Conner Henry (Orlando), who all began their coaching careers in the NBA D-League.
Global Game: Satnam Singh, the first Indian-born player to be selected in an NBA Draft, and Sim Bhullar, the first player of Indian descent to play in the NBA (when he suited up for the Sacramento Kings last season), will play with the Texas Legends and Raptors 905, respectively. Bobby Ray Parks, a native of the Philippines, will join Singh on the Legends’ roster.
Showcase Returns to Santa Cruz: The 2016 NBA D-League Showcase presented by Samsung will return to Kaiser Permanente Arena in January, with the Santa Cruz Warriors hosting the 12th annual event Jan. 6-10. The Showcase will feature all 19 NBA D-League teams playing two regular-season games apiece.
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