bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Lijia Zhang

Imagine being locked up for 27 years for a crime you didn’t commit. That was what happened to farmer Zhang Yuhuan. Fortunately, the wheel of fortune has just turned for him.
The Supreme People’s Court in the eastern province of Jiangxi declared Zhang not guilty on August 4 in a retrial, based on a lack of sufficient evidence. In the past few days, Chinese media has been awash with his tale. There have been tear-soaked images of his reunion with his ageing mother, his ex-wife who fought hard for his release and his two grown sons, whom he last saw as toddlers. 
Zhang was jailed for 9,778 days – nearly 27 years – and is believed to be the longest-serving wrongly convicted prisoner in China. He was arrested in October 1993 after two boys in Touling village were found dead and police suspected Zhang, a neighbour of the victims, had strangled and killed them.
He received a suspended death sentence from the Nanchang Intermediate People’s Court in January 1995 that was commuted to life imprisonment after two years. Zhang said he was forced to make false confessions after being tortured and threatened by police during interrogation.
Zhang has always maintained his innocence, and his family have repeatedly appealed to all relevant legal departments and every level of courts. Two months after the initial sentencing, the Jiangxi Supreme People’s Court heard his appeal and ordered a retrial that, in 2001, upheld the original verdict. The case was reopened last year, pushed by his family and a defence lawyer.
On the day I heard this news, I happened to listen to The Death Row Book Club, a BBC radio documentary about an American man who created a book club while on death row. He spent 28 years in jail while innocent of a double murder.

Wrongful convictions are not unique to China, of course, but there do seem to be a lot, including several high-profile cases in recent decades.
In 1994, farmer Zhang Zaiyu had a fight with her husband She Xianglin and ran away. A few months later, a bloated woman’s body was found in a pond near their village in Hubei province. She Xianglin was arrested and convicted of murder. He served 11 years in prison until the supposed victim turned up alive.
There was a similar case in Henan. In 1999, farmer Zhao Zuohai was sentenced for killing a fellow villager who disappeared after a fight between the men. Zhao also served 11 years before the vanished villager reappeared in 2010.
These cases sparked heated discussion in Chinese media as well as among legal experts on how China could better prevent the miscarriage of justice. Experts have made a case study of She’s ordeal as it is a telling example of what can go wrong in China’s legal system – coerced confessions, misidentification of a body, conflicting statements and almost non-existent evidence.
It is widely claimed that Chinese police often rely on torture to extract confessions out of suspects. With tears in his eyes, Zhang Yuhuan said he was hung and beaten with an electric baton.
I wasn’t surprised. While researching Lotus, my novel about prostitution, I heard many harrowing stories from sex workers about how they were beaten, burned with cigarettes, sprayed with high-pressure jets in winter and deprived of sleep.
Partly in response to the embarrassing high-profile cases, China has launched a crackdown on forced confessions and made serious efforts to eliminate cases that are entirely pinned on a suspect’s confession. Zhang Yuhuan is a case in point – the evidence found at the crime scene was insufficient, as Zhang’s lawyer argued at his recent retrial.


Even so, forced confessions continue to undermine China’s judicial system. Its Communist-Party-run courts still have one of the highest conviction rates in the world.
As part of a campaign to strengthen the legal system, the authorities have re-emphasised the legal principle of presumption of innocence, which was first established in China in 1996. Despite its long history and culture, China actually has a young and maturing legal system.
Its first modern criminal law promulgated in 1979 didn’t even address the presumption of innocence – a common presumption in many other countries and a key principle in preventing the miscarriage of justice.
In the wake of Zhang’s release, the Global Times sang the government’s praises, stating that “the overturning of such cases reflects the progress of China's judicial system over the years”. I do believe China has made great progress since reforming and opening up in 1978.


Another significant move was the 2007 restoration of the Supreme People’s Court’s authority in reviewing and approving all death penalty cases, a vital measure in averting catastrophic wrongful convictions. However, whether the legal reforms introduced over the years have actually been implemented remains in question.
To safeguard against wrongful conviction, further reforms are needed. Some have called for establishing an independent review body that combines inquisitorial and adversarial functions. Also, suspects must be granted the right to remain silent.
Zhang Yuhuan has endured untold suffering, as has his family. His desperate wife was forced to remarry and his sons grew up without their father.
Apart from congratulating themselves, the authorities must take a careful look at what went wrong in Zhang’s case, punish those responsible and consider ways to avoid wrongful convictions in the future. It would be a great comfort for Zhang and his family.
Lijia Zhang is a rocket factory worker turned social commentator and the author of a novel, Lotus



Zhang Yuhuan case shows China’s need to prevent wrongful convictions

Zhang Yuhuan (front, second from right), gathers with his family after spending almost 27 years in prison before having his conviction overturned on August 4. After multiple appeals, the Supreme People’s Court in Jiangxi province threw out Zhang’s conviction over lack of evidence. Photo: Weibo

A Chinese man who spent almost 27 years in prison had his conviction overturned, making it reportedly the longest wrongful imprisonment in ChinaÕs history.ÊA court in the southwestern province of Jiangxi ruled on Tuesday that there was insufficient evidence behind a 1995 ruling that convicted then 26-year-old Zhang Yuhuan of murdering two boys.Zhang, a villager from Jinxian county of Nanchang, JiangxiÕs provincial capital, was detained in October 1993 and handed a suspended death sentence on January 1995 by the Nanchang Intermediate PeopleÕs Court, which was commuted to life imprisonment after two years. Photo:Weibo

Opinion

Comment


High-profile cases have revealed gaps in China’s legal system: coerced confessions, misidentification of bodies, conflicting statements and lack of evidence
Authorities must take a careful look at what went wrong in Zhang’s case, punish those responsible and consider ways to avoid wrongful convictions in the future



High-profile cases have shown gaps in China’s legal system: coerced confessions, misidentification of bodies, conflicting statements and lack of evidence. Authorities must take a careful look at what went wrong in Zhang Yuhuan’s case and punish those responsible.


5050

China society

Crime in China

Crime

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Opinion | Zhang Yuhuan case shows China’s need to prevent wrongful convictions