Judicial progress being made

According to Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court, 1,076 criminal defendants were declared innocent last year, 37 more than in 2015, and 1,376 wrongful verdicts or sentences were changed on appeal.

Such statistics, contained in the annual work report he submitted to the fifth plenary session of the 12th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, on Sunday, testify to China's judicial progress.

In the latest move in February, the Supreme People's Court issued a guideline requiring courts at all levels to base their rulings on solid evidence, exclude the use of any insufficient evidence and promote an effective mechanism to prevent and correct miscarriages of justice.