Xinhua New, 2009-06-11
Since early 2008, the Beijing Xicheng District Procuratorate, in coordination with the Xicheng District Court, has been experimenting with having “key” witnesses in “complex and difficult to solve cases” appear in court to give their testimony firsthand during trial. To date, twenty-three witnesses have appeared in twelve different cases—primarily cases in which defendants refuse to admit their crimes or written testimony submitted by witnesses, including police investigators and experts, is contradictory. Because China's criminal procedure law fails to clearly prescribe witnesses' duty to obey court subpoenas, Xicheng prosecutors must “convince” witnesses—often worried about their personal and financial safety, as well as job security—to appear in court. In part to allay those worries, the procuratorate gives “economic compensation” to covers witnesses' “transportation, food and lodging costs and lost wages.” Prosecutors are also “supposed to give assistance” to the defense in producing (“inviting”) their own trial witnesses as part of the principle of arms (“principle of prosecution and defense equality”).
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