Big strides made to right wrongs

Zhao Zhihong (center) stands trial at Hohhot Intermediate People's Court in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region Monday. [Photo provided to China Daily]

There have been two big pushes to protect citizens' rights in China in the past 30 years.

The first started in the late 1970s, initiated by Hu Yaobang, the late general secretary of the Communist Party of China. It sought to correct wrongful and sometimes fabricated charges, and resultant prosecution, of many citizens and even government officials during the "cultural revolution" of 1966-76.

This started a continuing process to build China's justice and legal system in tandem with the country's reform and opening-up to the outside world.

The latest rights protection push followed Xi Jinping becoming Party leader in November 2012.

He called repeatedly for the country to be governed according to the Constitution. Xi also promised stronger efforts to promote the rule of law in China when he presided over the top leadership conference in October 2014.

However, as 84-year-old legal scholar Jiang Ping said in a recent public speech, efforts to redress past erroneous trials are only in their infancy. He said it is not easy to deliver to people the impression of fairness and justness in every court verdict.

"We still haven't seen a charge repealed on the grounds of torture and unlawful provision of evidence," Jiang said.