1
CONFIDENTIAL
-
2 -
the individual to have legal representation during that period
administrative punishments, especially re-education through labour of up to 4 years, which can be decided upon by the PSB without reference to the courts, and against which the person sentenced has little if any right of appeal and and no right of legal representation
nullum crimen sine lege (I believe that the UK citizen recently found guilty of possessing drugs by the Shanghai Intermediate People's Court was convicted on the basis of analogical reasoning)
counter-revolutionary offences under the criminal code
the role of defence lawyers, who often have only a few hours to prepare their case, and who come under considerable pressure if they seek to do more than plead mitigating circumstances
judicial independence. You will recall the famous statement of early 1990 in which the President of the Supreme People's Court said that the courts were a tool to implement Party policy. There is also the practice of adjudication committees reaching verdicts prior to trial
the absence of presumption of innocence
the failure to define precisely the nature of many criminal offences
the use of the offence of criminal defamation (feibang) to prosecute the regime's critics
the use of torture to secure "confession"
the structure of institutionalised inequality before the law one "law" (party discipline) for Party members, one law (the Criminal Code) for others
prison conditions
detention in the prison area (eg. Qinghai) after release from prison itself
1
CONFIDENTIAL