China to harness prolonged detention of suspects

The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) will limit the prolonged detention of suspects to protect the lawful rights of detainees, the SPP said on Wednesday.

Cases of prolonged detention include holding suspects in custody for longer than the law permits and detaining suspects for over five years without concluding a verdict.

The SPP ordered that prosecutors stationed in detention houses are responsible for discovering, reporting and preventing these cases and recommending corrections.

Cases in which suspects are detained for three months past the legal deadline, or for longer than five years, will be supervised by provincial-level procuratorates to expedite proceedings. Cases in which suspects are detained for six months past the deadline or more than eight years will be supervised by the SPP.

If detention houses fail to inform relevant organs of the approaching end of a detention period or fail to report overdue cases to the procuratorate and investigators, the SPP may correct their practices with measures ranging from warnings to demanding the release of suspects.

The SPP said to publicize cases of prolonged detention every six months. Endi