Chinese torture

China's top state prosecutor conceded yesterday that officials sometimes use torture, sabotage elections and frame people with false accusations - but he dismissed criticism of the country's human rights record as groundless, Reuter reports from Peking.

Liu Fuzhi, chief of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, told parliament that security departments across the country would pay greater attention to citizen's rights. He made clear, however, that while the legal system may promote Peking's policies of economic reform, it will remain a political weapon against the enemies of socialism.