8th February, 2018
China’s judicial departments are stepping up efforts to prevent, review and correct wrongful convictions to ensure justice, the Ministry of Justice said on Thursday.
Xiong Xuanguo, Vice Minister of Justice, told a news conference in Beijing that judicial departments have been taking lessons on wrongful convictions in the past and stepping up efforts to review and overturn those convictions.
Xiong said China would expand a pilot project nationwide to ensure all criminal cases have defence lawyers to prevent wrongful convictions.
The project, the vice minister said, which started in October 2018 in eight provinces and municipalities, assigned criminal defence lawyers to represent defendants in all criminal cases to protect their rights.
According to Xiong, wrongful convictions will become less in China with progress in the rule of law and improvement in the ability of judicial personnel.