国内英语新闻:Draft amendment to Criminal Procedure Law ready for vote

BEIJING, March 10 (Xinhua) -- A draft amendment to China's Criminal Procedure Law is ready for vote after minor revisions were made, deputies to the country's top legislature said on Saturday.

The draft was submitted Thursday to the ongoing 5th session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) for third reading.

After two days of deliberation, deputies considered that the draft had incorporated suggestions from all sides and was "mature" enough for final vote, Hu Kangsheng, chairman of the NPC's Law Committee, said in his report to the second meeting of the session's presidium.

Eight minor revisions put forward in the third reading include allowing a suspect's guardians or close relatives to engage a lawyer for him or her as the suspect in custody may be inconvenient to do so, and closed-door trials can be granted in cases involving commercial secrets if litigants so request.

China's legislature has underlined the principle of "respecting and safeguarding human rights" by explicitly writing it into the draft amendment.

The current Criminal Procedure Law was enacted in 1979 and amended in 1996.

The current revision was submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for first reading in August 2011 and for second reading in December 2011.