Chinese Court Clears Zhang Yuhuan of Murder After 27 Years in Prison

China’s legal system is trying to stamp out the use of forced confessions. A man in eastern China has been acquitted of murder and freed after spending 27 years in prison. Zhang Yuhuan maintained he was tortured by police and forced to confess to the murder of two young boys in 1993. He was China’s longest-serving wrongfully convicted inmate, after having served 9,778 days in the prison in Jiangxi province. Prosecutors who reopened the case said his confession had inconsistencies and did not match the original crime. He walked free after a high court found there was not enough evidence to justify his conviction. Observers say China is growing more willing to quash wrongful convictions, but only criminal not political. Footage on Chinese media showed Mr Zhang in an emotional reunion with his 83-year-old mother and his ex-wife following his release on Tuesday.

China cracks down on forced confessions: It is an open secret in China that the police use various kinds of torture, including sleep deprivation, cigarette burns and beatings, to force suspects to confess to crimes. In the past, entire cases might then be pinned on that “confession”. In 2010, a serious effort began in China’s legal system to stamp out the use of forced confessions. Death sentences must now be approved by China’s Supreme Court and there is a growing drive to eliminate cases that are pinned solely on a suspect’s confession. However, China’s legal reform has clear limits. Police in many provinces remain under heavy pressure to “solve” cases, often by producing suspects and there is little appetite to improve the treatment of dissidents and some ethnic minorities, including Muslim Uighurs. The authorities regularly detain individuals in politically sensitive cases and interrogate them outside of the normal detention system. Behind those closed doors, almost anything can happen. It is far more likely that China will reform its treatment of criminal suspects than those who appear to threaten the dominance of the Communist Party.

BBC News