Government and Policy
Listen up: eavesdropping is on its way
By Wang Jingqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-25 07:41
Wiretapping and eavesdropping should be used in investigations of corruption, a prosecutor has said.
Zhu Xiaoqing, deputy procurator-general at the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said current laws about investigative methods are not elaborate enough.
"After legal reform and legislation, measures including monitoring and wiretapping will probably be introduced into investigation of such cases," he said during a seminar at Renmin University of China in Beijing.
Yet such measures have already been used in many cases even though there's no clear legal basis for them, said Beijing-based lawyer Zhang Kai.
"If they want to legalize such measures, they should set limits and make it clear what kind of cases can be investigated that way, and what time the suspect should be wiretapped," Zhang said.
Zhu Wenqi, a law professor from Renmin University of China, is against the adoption of such measures, which he thinks are "fundamentally wrong".
"The current law does not specify whether it is legal and I think they are illegal measures as they are offences to people's privacy," he told China Daily.
"I think people's personal freedoms should not be violated under any condition," he said.
The current law only stipulates that "questioning by torture, threatening, tempting, and other illegal methods are forbidden to be used in gathering evidence".
In addition to wiretaps and eavesdropping, modern methods such as lie-detector tests, hypnosis, mail checking and satellite locating are also included.
Lawyer Zhu Wenqi said the use of such measures is widely disputed in a lot of countries.
"The United States legalized those measures after the 9/11 terrorist attack, but it is still disputed there. The United Nations court doesn't recognize evidence gathered through those methods," he said.
According to the procuratorate, more than 9,000 officials were found guilty of corruption in the first six months of the year, including embezzlement, bribery, dereliction of duty and rights violations.
The procuratorate also said in July that it would put more effort into cracking down on corruption and targeting officials who bend the law for the benefit of friends or relatives.
It will also attempt to uncover negligence, the abuse of judicial power and the shielding of gangs, as well as the covering up of serious crimes and infringements upon human rights.
