China strengthens efforts to correct, prevent wrongful convictions

BEIJING - China's judicial departments are stepping up efforts to prevent, review and correct wrongful convictions to ensure justice, the Ministry of Justice said Thursday.

Xiong Xuanguo, vice minister of justice, told a press conference in Beijing that judical departments have been drawing lessons from wrongful convictions in the past and stepping up efforts to review and overturn those convictions.

Xiong said that as a measure to prevent wrongful convictions, China will expand a pilot project nationwide to ensure all criminal cases have defense lawyers.

The project, which started last October in eight provinces and municipalities, assigned criminal defense lawyers to represent defendants in all criminal cases to protect their human rights.

With progress in the rule of law and improvement in the ability of judicial personnel, wrongful convictions will become less in China, according to Xiong.