China's four major law enforcement agencies called
for a more cautious handling of death penalty cases in a joint
document issued on Sunday.
The document, jointly issued by the Supreme
People's Court, Supreme People's Procuratorate, Ministry of Public
Security, and Ministry of Justice, underlined that the Supreme
People's Court is authorized to exercise the final approval for
death penalty cases.
It also asked law enforcement officials to strictly
obey laws in identifying facts, collecting evidence, dealing with
procedures, and adopting punishments.
In addition, some basic principles in handling
death penalty cases have been specified in the document that are
intended to punish criminals as well as protect their human
rights.
For example, it prohibits police from parading
suspects or criminals before the public for the purpose of
humiliating them. The document also specifically bans law
enforcement officials from questioning subjects by torture,
extorting confessions, and any form of illegally collecting
evidence.
Judges at different levels should pay more
attention to the validity of evidence in handling death penalty
cases, the document said.
It stressed that all law enforcement organs should
cooperate with each other in dealing with such cases to ensure that
every death sentence is made in a fair way.
(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2007)