Deputy Procurator-General calls on Sunday for protecting suspects' rights by eliminating illegal interrogation by atrocious torture.

Wang Zhenchuan, Deputy Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said illegal interrogation exists in some extent in local judicial practice. "Nearly every wrongful verdiction in recent years is involved in illegal interrogation," he said.

China records some 30 cases with wrongful verdictions due to illegal interrogation each year, but Wang said the real number could be higher.

Wang Zhenchuan made the remarks here at a seminar on illegal interrogation and wrongful verdiction, south China's island province Hainan.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate has embarked on a campaign to clean up illegal interrogation. According to a regulation it decreed in March, synchronous video and audio recordings shall be adopted during interrogation in major cases, murder and gang crimes for instance, by procuratorates at all levels.

Chen Lianfu, director of the anti-malfeasance office of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said that enforcing the current regulations is key to reducing illegal interrogation and preventing wrongful verdictions.

He Jiahong, professor on law study and president of the Law School of Renmin University, suggested that China should borrow other countries' practice for reference and authority should take the rights of both victims and suspects into consideration.

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2006)