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SCMP Reporter

How much compensation should you get after being wrongly jailed for 11 years?  
The government says 650,000 yuan (HK$740,000); Zhao Zuohai's family says it should be more. 
Zhao, a Henan villager, became the talk of the internet when he was released from prison last week, thanks to the reappearance of Zhao Zhenshang, the neighbour he supposedly murdered more than a decade ago. 
The case attracted attention not only because of its shocking details, but because of its similarity to  two other famous wrongful convictions in recent years. In one case, She Xianglin of Hubei  was released from jail in 2005 after the wife he supposedly murdered 10 years previously reappeared. In the other, Nie Shubin of Hebei had already been executed when the real murderer emerged and confessed in 2005. 
All these cases exposed the same loopholes in the country's criminal system: the widespread existence of torture in obtaining confessions, and the absence of checks and balances within the system to detect such practices. The Zhao case once again prompted  calls for urgent and comprehensive judicial reform. 
It also drew attention to the country's State Compensation Law - despite being amended last month, it still attracts criticism for offering inadequate compensation. 
The Henan High People's Court and the Shangqiu city People's Intermediate Court took good care of Zhao Zuohai following his release, according to Xinhua yesterday. They are helping him build a new house, and the Shangqiu chief justice personally handed him compensation of 650,000 yuan yesterday, a sum to which the released man agreed. 
The Shangqiu procuratorate also detained two policemen involved in  the case, with a third one reportedly on the run. 
However, Zhao's uncle Zhao Zhenju, who Zhao is staying with at present, told the South China Morning Post that the compensation was too low and the family would consider suing if the sum was not raised in negotiations, which were continuing. 
Zhao Zuohai had told mainland media he wanted 1.5 million yuan. Zhao could not be reached for comment yesterday, but he told mainland media on Tuesday that he wanted  1.5 million yuan to support himself,  help his sons get a wife and repair his parents' graves.  
In fact, the initial offer was 450,000 yuan, and according to the State Compensation Law, Zhao would probably be entitled to only that amount, short of injuries and death, calculated on the basis of the country's average income (111.99 yuan per day in 2008), multiplied by the number of days locked away. 
Zhao told reporters of non-stop torture and lack of sleep.
He said  five policemen took turns hitting his head with batons and gun butts. They would give him water mixed with drugs, giving him headaches. And when he was on the verge of passing out, they would set off firecrackers on his head. 
Zhao showed reporters his scars, and said how one policeman told him that if he did not confess, they could easily shoot him and claim that he was trying to escape. 
Police coached him as to exactly what he should say in  his confession.  'I just wanted to behave in prison and leave it as soon as possible,' he said. 
'It's because I did not insist on my innocence that I'm still alive today.' 
Zhao broke down in tears from time to time, especially when he talked about his family - his wife left him during his imprisonment, and his second son was the only one to visit him. 
And the fact that his son did not once call him 'dad' during those years broke his heart. 
'He must think that I'm a bad guy,' Zhao said. 'But I couldn't tell him otherwise. I don't hate the government, I just hate those who beat me. I want them removed from their positions.'



Wrongly jailed villager seeks more compensation