State law amended to protect rights

BEIJING - People's rights will be better protected from State infringement under a revised State Compensation Law adopted on Thursday.

The amendment, passed at a session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, enshrines compensation for mental trauma and stipulates that compensation should be paid for injuries inflicted when officials at detention centers or prisons abuse or beat inmates, or allow others to do so.

"The previous law stipulated that those who inflict mental injuries only have to apologize, while the revision makes great progress by adding compensation to that, which means respect for and the guarantee of peoples' rights," said Jiang Ming'an, a law professor with Peking University.