China publishes draft supervision law to solicit public opinion

BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislature on Tuesday published the draft law on supervision to solicit public opinion.

The draft of the National Supervision Law will be open for public comment on the National People's Congress website until Dec. 6.

The draft has made clear regulations on China's new detention system, which will replace the "shuanggui" system.

Shuanggui was an intra-party disciplinary practice that required a member of the Communist Party of China being investigated to cooperate with questioning at a set time and place. The practice was monitored by Party disciplinary officials, but its largely informal process caused tricky legal issues.

The new detention system will safeguard the rights of those under investigation with several measures.

The draft says family members of detainees or the organizations they work for must receive a timely notice of the detention, usually within 24 hours, and the date and length of the interrogation must be specified to ensure the safety of detainees.

The detention organizations have to provide food, ensure rest and provide medical service to detainees, according to the draft.

The draft also points out that detainees will be able to offset the term of detention against future penalties.

The draft forbids any supervisory body or investigators to insult or maltreat detainees, and the inquiry process must be videotaped.

Supervisory commissions will be set up across the country by the People's Congresses at national, provincial, city and county-levels within their jurisdiction to supervise those exercising public power.

The commissions will be in charge of three major duties: supervision, investigation and punishment.

In January, China started a pilot for the new supervision system in Beijing, as well as Shanxi and Zhejiang provinces, including establishing supervisory commissions and practicing the new detention system.

The pilot has had strong results. And the reform ensures that supervision covers everyone in the public sector who holds power.

In the first eight months of the year, a total of 183 people were detained by supervision commissions in the three pilot areas.

Since the reform, the number of people under supervision rose from 210,000 to 997,000 in Beijing, from 785,000 to 1.315 million in Shanxi, and from 383,000 to 701,000 in Zhejiang.