China Pays Biggest Ever Sum in State CompensationA Chinese citizen mistakenly imprisoned for over nine years was paid a total of 107,057.80 yuan by the local judiciary in southwestern China's Sichuan Province as state compensation, the Beijing-based Legal Daily reported Tuesday.The case is believed to be the largest sum of money paid by the state to an individual as compensation in the province since the country's first State Compensation Law took effect in 1995. Cheng Ning was an employer at Pingwu County branch of the Agriculture Bank of China in Mianyang city of southwest China's Sichuan Province. Cheng, now 40, was mistakenly arrested and sentenced to death according to a court verdict in 1991. He was charged of being guilty of bank robbery by the Mianyang City Intermediate People's Court. He had been in jail for 3,257 days before he was released in April, 1999, at the order of the Provincial Higher People's Court for lacking sufficient evidence. In July 2000, Cheng appealed to the procuratorate and the intermediate court of Mianyang City, demanding compensation of 900, 000 yuan for his economic losses and spiritual damages. Both the procuratorate and the court were ordered each to pay 53,528.90 yuan to Cheng on compensation. Cheng didn't lodge any objections to the ruling within the legal time period, according to the report. |
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