After serving 17 years in prison, five men were recently acquitted of the murder and robbery of two taxi drivers in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. The Beijing News, in a column on Thursday, asks: Who is to blame for this? Excerpts below:

"Innocent." Chen Jianyang and his four companions were glad to hear the final verdict of their trial. But they had already served 17 years in prison.

In 1995, the five young men were accused of robbery and murder and sentenced to prison. But partly because of the persistence of their families and support from those who had compassion for them, they were finally set free.

The judge who sent them to prison said he is only partly responsible because he did not belong to the judging committee that handed down the 1995 verdict. The committee members themselves are not to blame according to a 2010 law that frees them of the responsibilities in making their decision.

Those who drafted the 2010 law might have wanted judging committee members to express their opinions, but one drawback to the law is that their power is not checked by the duty to be responsible for their decisions. Nobody is responsible if a verdict was the wrong one, as was the case with the five innocent men who had been imprisoned for 17 years.

It is necessary to reform the law to prevent similar mistakes in the future. If the judging committee is necessary, then at least make its members responsible for their decisions.