BEIJING: China has highlighted the principle that “no punishment should be given in cases where there is doubt” over the past decade by correcting miscarriages of justice in a bid to strongly protect human rights.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, the central leadership has attached great importance to the rule of law. President Xi Jinping has regularly noted that fairness and justice constitute noble values upheld by the Party.
To uphold justice, courts at all levels strengthened their efforts to prevent wrongful convictions over the past 10 years, overturning a number of wrongful convictions and providing State compensation to those who had been wrongly detained in a timely manner.
The Supreme People’s Court, China’s top court, also disclosed the number of defendants who were found not guilty due to the “doubt” principle in its annual work report, and issued guidelines to regulate the means of evidence collection.
“What we do is guarantee that the innocent aren’t penalized as criminals, and those found guilty should be punished in line with the law,” said Zhou Qiang, president of the top court.
He emphasized that evidence must not be obtained through illegal means, such as torture.
Under the order, the Yunnan Provincial High People’s Court cleared Qian Renfeng of wrong-doing in December 2015, about 13 years after she was imprisoned for poisoning children.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
