FREE AGAIN: Zhang Gaoping (back right) and Zhang Hui (back left) with some family members on April 10 (ZHANG DUAN)

On August 13, the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee published an official paper laying out the guidelines for the prevention of false convictions.

The guidelines came in response to public cries for judicial fairness after the emergence of several prominent cases ending in false convictions. It is also the first attempt of the sort to be issued by Chinese authorities in order to prevent this kind of courtroom scandal.

"Recent events in the courts have brought unprecedented challenges to the system. It's time to work toward implementing measures that will prevent further miscarriages of justice," said Chen Weidong, a professor at the Law School of Beijing-based Renmin University of China.

According to him, the guidelines are a decent attempt by Chinese authorities to make headway, "These provisions did not come easily. It is the result of decades of experience and study in judicial practice," Chen said.

Courtroom scandals

In recent years, a series of cases where the innocent were wrongfully sentenced to imprisonment or death have triggered public outrage in China. The latest two such cases were reported in east China's Zhejiang Province.

On July 2, five men who served 17 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted for the murders of two taxi drivers in Hangzhou, the provincial capital, were acquitted of all charges.

In 1997, Chen Jianyang, Tian Weidong, Wang Jianping, Zhu Youping and Tian Xiaoping—all natives of Xiaoshan District—received either death sentences or life imprisonment during the trial by the Hangzhou Municipal Intermediate People's Court for the murder and robbery of two separate taxi drivers in 1995.

All five appealed. Later, the Higher People's Court of Zhejiang commuted the sentences of the three who had been sentenced to death. However, the court still upheld the guilty verdict and merely changed their sentence to the death penalty with two-year reprieves.

Fourteen years later, fingerprint evidence from one of the murder sites surfaced, leading police to arrest and charge Xiang Shengyuan, a Hangzhou native who pleaded guilty to killing taxi driver Xu Caihua on March 20, 1995, after arguing over a fare.

The evidence prompted the Higher People's Court of Zhejiang to launch a review of the case earlier this year. The court found the convictions to be erroneous and in response overturned the sentences for all five men.

The five decided to bring charges against those that they consider responsible, including officers they claimed used torture and other illegal measures to force confessions out of them.

Another two men who had been wrongfully jailed for 10 years in Zhejiang, were acquitted of rape on March 26. New evidence surfaced showing the possibility of another suspect. The evidence presented during the initial trial was also found to be insufficient to support the original conviction.

On April 21, 2004, the Hangzhou Municipal Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zhang Hui and his uncle Zhang Gaoping, both Zhejiang residents, for allegedly raping and killing 17-year-old Wang Dong. They received the death penalty and life imprisonment respectively.

Their sentences were later commuted to a death sentence with a two-year reprieve for the nephew and a 15-year prison term for the uncle in an appeal hearing conducted by the Higher People's Court of Zhejiang on October 19, 2004.

The two men gave Wang a ride in their vehicle on the night of May 18, 2003, when they were transporting freight to Shanghai.

They dropped the girl off in Hangzhou at 1:50 a.m., and then continued on their way to Shanghai the next morning. Wang's body was discovered unclothed and lifeless later that day.

The two men became the prime suspects and were detained a few days later, as they were the last people to have seen the girl alive. Both men claimed they were forced to confess after a lengthy interrogation.

On March 27, Tang Xuebing, a spokesman for the Higher People's Court of Zhejiang, revealed at a news conference that police instructed inmates at the detention center to use violence to force the pair to confess. He also admitted that the false confessions given by them were used to convict them.

On March 28, Zhejiang police apologized via their website for the false conviction of the two men.

On May 17, the Higher People's Court of Zhejiang ruled that Zhang Gaoping and his nephew would be paid 655,730 yuan ($107,015) each for their 3,596 days of imprisonment and a further 450,000 yuan ($73,440) each for psychological damages. A report from Xinhua News Agency released on August 17 said that the two men had refused the compensation and instead claimed a combined 7.02 million yuan ($1.15 million) from the state.