Illegal detention and torture underpin China's corruption crackdown: Human Rights Watch report
The corruption crackdown ordered by Chinese President Xi Jinping is reliant on a secret system of detentions and torture beyond the reach of the formal Chinese criminal justice system, a U.S.-based human rights group said in a report on Tuesday. Human Rights Watch, which released its study in Hong Kong, called for the abolition of the system known as shuanggui, through which it alleges that confessions from Communist Party members are coerced. "President Xi has built his anti-corruption campaign on an abusive and illegal detention system," Sophie Richardson, China director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.