China should include the compensation for mental suffering into
its state compensation law, a lawmaker said at the ongoing annual
session of the country's top legislature.
The current Law on State Compensation should be revised because
of the absence of regulations on the compensation for mental
suffering, said Hua Yan, a deputy to the National People's
Congress?(NPC)
from eastern
Anhui Province.
Articles on compensation procedures and standards also need
amendment, the deputy said.
Mental suffering caused by state infringement may result in more
severe injury than that caused by civil violation, and a victim has
the very right to demand state compensation for the suffering, the
lawmaker said.
The current law only rules immaterial compensation such as
apology and rehabilitation of reputation without material
assistance, Hua said.
The lawmaker said a victim who suffered severe mental loss
should be compensated materially in addition to an apology and
rehabilitation.
She Xianglin, a man tortured into confessing a murder that he
did not commit was compensated 450,000 yuan (US$55,500) in 2005
after wrongly serving 11 years in prison.
She, 39, was exonerated for the crime when his wife whom he was
accused of murdering in 1994 suddenly appeared earlier last
year.
His demand for compensation from mental suffering was
rejected.
(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2006)