II. Civil and Political Rights

China endeavors to develop socialist democracy, improve the socialist rule of law, expand the orderly political participation of citizens and guaranteeing people's civil and political rights in an all-round way.

(1) Rights of the person

All rights of the person are guaranteed by law in lawsuits and law enforcement.

- Criminal Procedure Law will be implemented. The applicable conditions and management stipulations for the adoption of such compulsory measures as arrest, release on bail pending trial and residential surveillance will be adjusted and specified in greater detail.

- All rights of the suspects in lawsuits will be guaranteed by law. The suspects will be informed of their rights and obligations in a timely fashion in accordance with the law, and conditions will be created actively for lawyers to get involved in a lawsuit from the stage of criminal investigation.

- Preventive and remedial measures against extortion of confession by torture and collecting evidence through other illegal methods will be enforced; and no one will be forced to prove himself or herself guilty.

- The people's procuratorates will pay greater heed to the self-defense of criminal suspects at the stage of approval for arrest. Procurators themselves should interrogate suspects when there are clues or evidences that prove the possibility of such serious violations of law as extortion of confession and collecting evidence through the use of force. If the criminal suspects request such an interrogation, the procurators should do so as required.

- Relevant mechanisms to facilitate the work of lawyers during criminal proceedings will be improved. When defense lawyers proffer written materials and evidence maintaining that no crime has been committed, an arrest is unnecessary, or the suspect should not be detained, or there have been violations of law in the investigation, the procurators must examine them seriously. When necessary, procurators may consult lawyers in person. The procurators should state clearly in the arrest warrant whether they are going to accept the lawyer's opinions and evidences and their reasons for doing so.

- The venues of law enforcement and case investigation by public security organs will be transformed according to defined standards step by step. The Standards for Venues of Law Enforcement and Case Investigation of Public Security Organs will be implemented strictly. Case investigation areas must be separated physically from other areas, and the function rooms of the case investigation areas will be established in line with the procedures of case investigation, where permanent sound and video recording as well as video surveillance systems will be installed for real-time monitoring and control over the whole course of law enforcement and investigation to prevent any violation of the legitimate rights and interests of citizens.

- The scope of application of the system of probationary suspension and community correction according to law will be expanded, appropriately reducing the application of imprisonment and clearly defining the scope of non-imprisonment punishment; improving the system of community-based correction, and enriching the contents of community-based correction, correction by education and measures to aid convicts in financial difficulties.

- Strengthening efforts in investigation and punishment of cases committed by state functionaries involving violations of a citizen's personal rights such as illegal detention by taking advantage of their functions and powers.