Time really is money for China’s top court – about US$38 per day
People’s Procuratorate sets new rate for settling cases of wrongful incarceration, but critics say it’s too stingy
China has raised its rate for a day in the life of one of its citizens, to 258.9 yuan (US$38) per day, according to a notice on the website of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.
Anyone who is wrongfully detained but later found to be innocent can ask for financial compensation from the government according to the new benchmark, which is based on the average wage in China. The figure for last year was 242.3 yuan per day.
The new standard came into effect on Wednesday. Under it, someone who had their freedom infringed for a full year would receive compensation of about 94,500 yuan.
According to a government white paper issued in early 2016, China had approved 10,881 cases of state compensation for wrongful incarceration for 2014 and 2015, paying out 113.4 million yuan in total.
In one famous case, Chen Man received 2.75 million yuan as compensation for serving 23 years in jail after he was wrongfully convicted of murder and arson in Hainan province. A final court ruling in 2016 declared him innocent.
