Criminals' human rights should be respected: top judge

Xiao Yang, president of the Supreme People's Court of China urged all Chinese judges to respect criminals' human rights on Friday.

He said all judges must cautiously exert their trial power in line with law, as the clause of "the state respects and safeguards human rights" had been enshrined in the Constitution in March this year.

"Judges must strictly follow legal procedures when depriving or putting limitations on criminals' rights. Even if criminals are sentenced to death, they should not be humiliated."

He stressed that if courts could not find enough evidence to demonstrate that criminal suspects committed crimes within a certain time limit, the criminal suspects must be set free in time.