More recompense for human rights abuse victims

By Zhu Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-11 08:25

Victims of personal freedom infringement by government and judicial authorities will get more compensation, the top court said on its website on Friday.

The compensation for victims of rights abuse will reach 111.99 yuan ($16.4) per day, 12.68 yuan more than that of last year's.

The Supreme People's Court said the revised compensation rate should be adopted for all such cases since the beginning of this year.

The change closely follows the announcement from the State Bureau of Statistics on Thursday that the average annual salary in the country was 29,229 yuan last year, or 111.99 yuan per working day.

The State Compensation Law stipulates that the amount of daily compensation given to victims of personal freedom infringement shall be calculated on the basis of the average daily salary of employees in China in the preceding year.

The law, which aims to protect the public from improper actions of government and judicial bodies, also says those who were beaten to death, or incapacitated will get 20 times the average daily salary of employees in the country.

In a typical case in 2005, a farmer from Hubei province, She Xianglin, spent 11 years in jail for "killing" his wife before being released in 2005 after his "victim" turned up alive. He got a State compensation of about 226,000 yuan.

However, despite the latest increase, legal experts still consider the compensation too low and the application process too complicated, calling for revisions of the State Compensation Law.

Jiang Mingan, an administrative law professor with Peking University, said the compensation for personal freedom infringement should also include that for possible assets and income loss caused by the loss of freedom.

"Average salary could be a compensation for the loss of liberty rights, and it could be the same for everyone," he said. "But possible loss in assets and income is different."

Ma Huaide, a professor with the University of Political Science and Law who helped draft the State Compensation Law, also called for simplifying the process of applying for a compensation.

"It's quite difficult for victims to get State compensation because of the complicated process and improper payment system," he said.

Figures offered by Ma show that from 1997 to 2007, courts in the country handled more than 25,000 cases asking for State compensation, but only 8,500 of them succeeded. Procuratorates and police departments at all levels also received 17,000 and 6,300 such applications, and only 5,700 and 4,000 of them, respectively, got the final nod.