China ups compensation for wrongful imprisonment

BEIJING - The amount of compensation payable by the Chinese state for infringement of citizens' personal freedom is to be upped by 20.32 yuan ($3.22) to 162.65 yuan for each day of wrongful imprisonment or detention, it was announced on Tuesday.

The sum is equal to the average daily income of Chinese urbanites in 2011, according to a statement issued by the Supreme People's Court (SPC).

The SPC made the adjustment based on figures released the same day by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The State Compensation Law stipulates, "If freedom of a citizen is infringed, compensatory payment for each day shall be assessed in accordance with the State average daily pay of staff and workers in the previous year."

The SPC ordered courts to handle cases in line with the amended sum.