Government and Policy

Victims get help with legal fight

By Wang Jingqiong and Cao Yin (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-23 07:58

BEIJING - People who claim their rights were infringed upon by the government will find it easier to seek compensation following the release of a new regulation from the nation's top court.

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The regulation, a judicial interpretation of the State Compensation Law that was adopted in 1994 and amended last year, took effect on Tuesday. It stipulates that government bodies that are the subject of compensation claims are obliged to offer evidence of whether they infringed upon the plaintiffs' rights. If they fail to provide evidence, they will be considered responsible.

The Supreme People's Court, which drafted the regulation, said it is aimed at better protecting victims' rights. The State Compensation Law regulates whether compensation should be paid to people who say their rights have been infringed upon by administrative or judicial agencies or officials.

According to the old interpretation of the law, those who asked for compensation had to collect evidence of the alleged infringement themselves. The only exception was in the case of detention centers and prisons that had always been obliged to provide evidence in cases where an inmate was found dead or incapacitated.

The top court said most victims had difficulty collecting evidence proving their rights had been infringed upon by administrative agencies or officials because those agencies and officials usually were the ones in possession of official documents.

"The law did not oblige the official side to prove their innocence in most cases involving claims of compensation against the State," said the Supreme People's Court in a statement about the new regulation.

"Therefore, we are making the official side equally responsible to prove its innocence to the same extent as the victims who must prove there has been an infringement."

Ma Huaide, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law, welcomed the change.

"If well enforced, the new regulation is good news for aggrieved people who want compensation," Ma said. "In the past, it was too hard for them to find the evidence. Now, the responsibility of evidence collection is equally taken by the administrative organs."

However, some experts were less optimistic.

"I still think the current State Compensation Law does not make it easy for victims to get compensation," said Yi Mouhua, a Beijing-based lawyer at Yingke Law Firm. "Although this new judicial interpretation gives more details about enforcement, I still don't think it has gone far enough."