国内英语新闻:Prosecutors deny arrest of 406 for illegal evidence

BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese prosecutors have denied investigators arrest warrants for 406 people due to the exclusionary rule of illegal evidence passed in 2014, the country's top procuratorate announced.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said in a document that the prosecutors have decided not to arrest 116,553 people because of insufficient evidence to sustain a criminal investigation or an arrest.

They have also decided not to indict 23,269 others for the same reason, the document said.

Among these cases, the arrest of 406 and the indictment of 198 have been refused as the prosecutors found problems with illegally-obtained evidence.

A total of 671 enforcers were warned for violations regarding illegal evidence collection and the prosecutors advised criminal penalties for 10 investigators for the violations, the SPP said.

In March 2014, local prosecutors' practice of the exclusionary rule have prevented the arrest of innocent people and pushed the police to find the real criminal.

Also in 2014, the SPP issued several documents on rules regarding arrests, miscarriage of justice petitions and protection of the defendant counsel's rights.

A document on 14 measures by the prosecutors to prevent miscarriage of justice was issued last month.

Moreover, the SPP is working to revise a reform plan about the procuratorial system, it said.