Beijing (dpa) – China has scaled back a draft law that would legalize secret detentions, a legal expert said on Tuesday, following widespread criticism by lawyers, activists and international rights groups. The latest draft of the revised Criminal Procedure Law omits most of the earlier provisions that would have allowed police to keep suspects under secret detention, formal arrest or “residential surveillance” without informing relatives, Chen Guanzhong told dpa. “In the newest update they deleted the provision on residential surveillance,” Chen, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, quoted sources as saying. The new draft allows secret detention only if a suspect is arrested on charges linked to “state security” or terrorism, and if informing relatives could “hinder the investigation” of a crime, Chen said. It requires police to inform relatives of a suspect's detention within 24 hours in all other cases, he said. Chen said any detention would normally not exceed 14 days under the draft law, which is expected to approved next month by China's nominal parliament, the National People's Congress. The latest draft also removed a provision allowing police to hold suspects in major economic crimes in secret detention, Chen said. The government issued the draft law for public consultation in September, drawing strong criticism. US-based Human Rights Watch said the first draft gave police “free rein to carry out ‘disappearances' lawfully,” and could have put detainees at greater risk of torture and mistreatment. The group warned that China “routinely uses state security charges against perceived critics and dissidents.” Chen said he saw the new draft as a step forward in protecting the legal rights of criminal suspects. “I personally can accept it because the (secret) detention is a temporary, emergency measure,” he said. “So I think it is not such a serious violation of the human rights of suspects, and I think the law is improving step by step,” Chen said. Police secretly detained dozens of activists without informing relatives last year, sometimes in unmarked buildings commonly known as “black jails.” Several prominent rights lawyers were among the highest profile victims of a crackdown that was linked to calls for protests against the ruling Communist Party. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/8fbp2 Tags: China, Detention, Jail, rights, Secret Section: East Asia, Human Rights
