Chinese woman wrongfully jailed for theft given apology and payout 25 years after
Bai Chunrong's case another in a series of cases exposing injustices in country's courts system
Twenty-five years after she was locked up behind bars, a Guangdong woman on Thursday received more than 650,000 yuan (HK$818,000) in compensation for being wrongfully imprisoned – in the latest case of corrective measures for miscarried justice in China.
Bai Chunrong was sentenced to eight years in prison for theft on July 28, 1989, and served time until she was released in 1996, the Guangdong province newspaper New Express reported.
Bai filed an appeal in March 1990 but the Foshan Intermediate People’s Court upheld the conviction. There were no further details about her crime given in the court announcement.
The same court reopened the case in late March and the judge declared her innocent on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
Bai received the compensation from the Foshan court judge, who apologised to Bai for the wrongful conviction.
Bai, crying while kneeling on the floor and kowtowing to the magistrate, said: “I really thank the current court and judge for helping me get vindicated.”