Recommendation (E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6) Steps taken in previous years Situation in during visit in 2005 (See A/HRC/4/33/Add.2, A/HRC/7/3/Add.2, Information received in the (See E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.6) A/HRC/10/44/Add.5 and A/HRC/16/52/Add.2) reporting period that neither a defendant‘s declaration obtained through illegal means such as coercing confession, nor witness statements obtained through violence, threats and other illegal means may serve as the basis for conviction (articles 19 and 12). - It is alleged that in practice, Criminal Law Article 306, and other administrative sanctions impose significant additional constraints on lawyers considering mounting a defence based on allegations of torture. Article 306 provides criminal liability and imprisonment of up to seven years for defence counsel who coerce or entice witnesses to ―change testimony in defiance of facts or give false testimony‖, a charge which has been made against defence lawyers who allege that evidence used by the prosecution was obtained through torture, thus deterring the pursuit of such allegations. Non-governmental sources 2009: Reportedly, there is no right to access a lawyer before the initial interrogation. It is reported that the use of evidence obtained through torture remains admissible and is still being used in judicial proceedings. The police reportedly retain full control over the recording and the disposal of the video material which has led to videotapes in alleged torture cases to go ―missing‖. While Chinese law and prison A/HRC/19/61/Add.3 15 i) Judges and prosecutors Government: Art. 96 of the CPL provided for access to a lawyer after initial interrogations. In 2006, the Public Order Administration Punishment Law of the National People‘s Congress Standing Committee Article entered into force, which prohibited the use of evidence obtained by torture as the basis of a criminal charge (art. 75). The same year the SPP announced the nationwide implementation of audio-video recording of interrogations of criminal suspects in the procuratorates by the end of 2007. Government: Under the NHRA, a system of