Compensation left in legal limbo
- Source: Global Times
- [22:51 November 05 2009]
- Comments
She Xianglin kneels before his mother's tomb after being released on April 13, 2005. He served 11 years in prison for murdering his wife who was later proven to be still alive.
By Yin Hang
It was the flimsiest of evidence that convicted Xu Jingxiang, a Henan farmer and security guard, of a burglary he did not do. The Luyi county court sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
The next 13 years of Xu's life read like a bad country & western song: his house collapsed, his parents died and his wife divorced him. Diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, Xu had been a strong and healthy thirtysomething before he went to jail.
Xu's bad luck appeared to change on March 15, 2005 when he was acquitted of all charges and released. He filed an appeal for State compensation three months later.
More than three years have passed and Xu has received nothing.
"Xu's case is special," his attorney Tang Luming told the Global Times. "He was sentenced to jail by two effective judgments. We can't find a corresponding regulation in the law to solve his case.
"The law's weak practicality makes his application hard to try or settle."
It seemed Xu had a lifeline at last when a brand new amendment to the law was introduced at a standing committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) in October.
To obtain compensation, Xu only needed to verify the relevant judicial organs had infringed upon his legal rights in discharging their duty.
But Xu's luck ran out: the change didn't gain unanimous support. Instead, the controversial State compensation law was left in limbo after the top Chinese legislature body failed to reach a consensus on the third reading of its amendment as the bi-monthly session of the NPC closed at the end of last month.
In a press conference held later, He Shaoren, spokesman of the top legislative body and also the deputy director of the Information Office under the NPC Standing Committee, explained that the amendment might need more research and review before it is passed.
"Some committee members have expressed different opinions on some of its regulations, such as the principle of compensation and the procedure for seeking compensation, so the standing committee decided to carry out more research and revisions on the amendment," He said at the press conference.
A further probe into the disagreement among members of the standing committee confirmed that the discord over the amendment focused on three aspects: first, whether the new-added exemption clause should be pulled or not; second, whether to enlarge the scope of compensation or not; and third, the justice of the compensation recognition procedure, the Beijing-based Procuratorial Daily reported.
