Government and Policy

China raises compensation for wrongful imprisonment

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-07-16 20:34

BEIJING - China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) Friday ordered prosecutors to compensate victims of wrongful imprisonment at a rate of 125.43 yuan (18.5 U.S. dollars) per day of incarceration, up 13.44 yuan per day from last year.

Compensation for civil liberties violations are based on the previous year's average wage for workers, the State Compensation Law which took effect in 1995 says.

Compensation for injured feelings must be paid for serious violations of civil liberties, according to the newly amended compensation law that takes effect December 1 this year.

The most well-known recent case of wrongful conviction and imprisonment involved 57-year-old Zhao Zuohai

He was wrongfully jailed for 11 years after being convicted of a murder that never took place. He received 650,000 yuan (96,000 U.S. dollars) in compensation from the Intermediate People's Court in Shangqiu City, in central China's Henan Province.