国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

Prisoners on death row to get free legal aid

By ZHANG YAN (China Daily) Updated : 2015-09-15

Prisoners on death row to get free legal aid

Inmates receive psycho-health guidance in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, in this July 2012 file photo. [Photo/Xinhua]

Convicted criminals on death row will be entitled to free legal representation under a new rule drafted by the Ministry of Justice, a ministry source told China Daily.

The ministry will assign lawyers to condemned prisoners who cannot afford one during the review of their sentences to ensure equal access to justice, according to the source.

The source said officials from the ministry and the high court are "finalizing some detailed implementation measures and the rule will be released in the next few months".

The source asked not to be identified because she was not authorized to discuss the draft plan with the media.

Under Chinese law, all death sentences must be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court before defendants can be executed. Currently, defendants who cannot afford to hire lawyers are not guaranteed representation during a death penalty review.

Che Xingyi, a lawyer at Beijing's Yingke Law Firm, which specializes in representing clients in death penalty cases, said the top court conducts reviews based on files from local courts and lawyers' previous defense statements.

This method has limitations and is not sufficient to ensure justice, Che said.

It is "more than necessary" to offer legal aid during a review of a death sentence, he said. "If the lawyers discover flaws in sentencing criteria or new evidence, they will fully defend the suspects and communicate with the judges quickly to stop imminent execution."

China does not reveal the number of prisoners on death row.

However, last year, Chinese lawyers provided free legal aid to nearly 40,000 suspects facing life imprisonment or the death penalty, a year-on-year increase of 7 percent, according to the ministry.

The new rule follows a recent meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, which stressed the importance of legal aid and was attended by the country's top leaders.

Paul Dalton, team leader for the China-EU Access to Justice Program, which was created to strengthen equality of justice in China especially among disadvantaged groups, recommended that Chinese judicial authorities be cautious when imposing the death penalty.

The top court would better protect prisoners' rights by holding public hearings during a death penalty review, Dalton said.

This would enable judges to listen to defense arguments by defendants and their lawyers instead of just reading the files.

商丘市| 黑河市| 浦江县| 长沙县| 南昌市| 辽宁省| 海原县| 鲁甸县| 罗田县| 明水县| 石林| 麦盖提县| 华坪县| 建始县| 河北区| 万山特区| 三台县| 浦城县| 温泉县| 长沙市| 霍林郭勒市| 鄂托克前旗| 横山县| 建德市| 乡城县| 衡水市| 惠来县| 靖州| 阜南县| 吉隆县| 秦皇岛市| 汕头市| 昌都县| 大连市| 胶州市| 年辖:市辖区| 缙云县| 驻马店市| 吴桥县| 奉化市| 公安县|