China to help wrongly convicted people get compensation

China will issue legal documents this year to give more help for wrongly convicted people in seeking state compensation, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said Wednesday.

Those who are acquitted after being falsely convicted should be compensated in a timely manner, Xinhua reported citing SPC deputy head Tao Kaiyuan.

Relevant departments should also cooperate with the SPC to jointly improve compensation work and ensure victims' rights to seek compensation, she added.

China's State Compensation Law took effect Jan 1, 1995, and was amended in 2010. The law aims to not only help individuals obtain compensation when the state infringes on their personal rights, but also help restore and enhance judicial credibility, according to Tao.

Chinese courts at all levels accepted more than 134,000 claims for state compensation in the past 20 years, with 93 percent processed, she said.

In a recent case, the parents of Huugjilt, who was wrongly convicted and executed in 1996 for murder and rape at age 18, received state compensation totalling 2.06 million yuan (about $336,000). The deceased was announced innocent in December after the court re-investigated the case.