1、Never Back DownOn February 19， 2016， Chen Man paid a visit to the grave of Lin Yiquan in Santai County， Sichuan Province. A law professor at Southwest University for Nationalities who died in 2003， Li had served as Chens defense counsel. Chen knelt before his lawyers memorial， and his eyes blurred w
2、ith tears. “Professor Lin went to Hainan， despite being sick， to defend me in court， ” Chen told NewsChina. “He taught my case to his students. I owe him a debt of gratitude.” Chen， 53， from Sichuan Province， was exonerated in early February by the Peoples High Court of Zhejiang Province. The court
3、overturned the two-year suspended death sentence for murder and arson that had led to Chens 23-year incarceration， citing insufficient evidence. Diligence Wang Wanqiong， another member of Chens defense counsel， joined him in paying her respects to Lin Yiquan. She clearly remembers the first time she
4、 visited Lins home?C mountains of materials related to Chens case occupied every corner. The quality of these materials played a key role in Chens acquittal. “It is very difficult to overturn a conviction?C its like winning the lottery， ” said Wang.“Lins efforts strengthened our determination.” In N
5、ovember 2013， Wang and Li Jinxing， another of the dozens of defense lawyers who represented Chen， began to voluntarily take on miscarriage of justice cases， founding an organization at Sichuan University designed to overturn wrongful convictions. This organization， named the Innocence Project， took
6、Chen Mans case as its debut campaign， a decision which proved to be a crucial turning point in his acquittal. At the time the Innocence Project took an interest， Chen Mans parents were debtridden by years of fruitless appeals. Several lawyers told our reporter that they made the decision to defend C
7、hen because they were moved by both the conscience of his previous legal counsel and the persistence of his parents. “There was abundant evidence that Chen had been wrongly imprisoned， but it took 23 years to quash the conviction. Beyond following legal procedure， persistence and conscience were cru
8、cial， ” said Li Jinxing. Relay At 8 PM on Christmas Day， 1992， a fire broke out in Shangpoxia Village in the city of Haikou， Hainan Province. When firefighters arrived， they found the charred remains of a man whose neck and back clearly bore fatal knife wounds. A work permit with Chen Mans name on i
9、t was found at the scene， and Chen was initially presumed to have been the victim. Two days later， the body was identified， and a few days after that， local police charged Chen with homicide and arson. Chens parents， now both in their 80s， never doubted their sons innocence and immediately launched
10、an appeal. Chen told NewsChina that he never gave up hope in prison because of the unfailing support of his parents. Li Jinxing told our reporter that any experienced lawyer who spent five minutes with his case file could see that there was no physical evidence that directly implicated Chen. Whats m
11、ore， Li claimed， Chens incessant flip-flopping ?C pleading guilty then denying involvement in the crime ?C was evidence that police were trying to obtain a forced confession. “The defendant would not plead guilty unless he was beaten， ” said Li. Chen was sentenced to death with a twoyear reprieve by
12、 the Peoples High Court of Hainan Province on November 9， 1994， a sentence upheld at a second trial on April 15， 1999. Neither trial heard witness testimony or allowed the presentation of material evidence. In Li Jinxings opinion， the most egregious violation of due process was the fact that both ju
13、dges insisted on a death sentence even though there was sufficient evidence and testimony to prove that Chen did not have the window of time necessary to commit the crime. “The law should be rational in deciding the fate of a defendant， and judges are the last line of defense for justice， ” Li said.
14、 Wu Jiasen， a Sichuan lawyer who died in 1996， and Cao Zheng， a criminal lawyer of the Xinjiang Lawyers Association， represented Chen at his first trial. After receiving a diagnosis of lung cancer， Wu recommended that Lin Yiquan replace him as Chens defense attorney. During the second trial， Lin and
15、 Cao continued to seek an acquittal， and denounced the decision to hear what they alleged was false testimony from a police officer. “At the time in question you the police officer had not yet started your shift. How could you have witnessed Chen Man scoping out the crime scene？ This is false testim
16、ony， ”Cao told the court. However， Chens sentence was upheld. The first turning point came in 2004 when Cheng Shirong returned to her hometown in Mianzu， Sichuan Province. A former colleague of Chen Mans parents， Cheng had a basic knowledge of the law， and immediately turned her hand to overturning
17、Chens conviction after hearing the details of his case， launching a public campaign to free him. Cheng was conscious of the fact that she was not qualified to represent Chen herself， so she began searching for new counsel. Nobody wanted to take the job. Cheng had to draft Chens appeals by herself. S
18、he sometimes felt helpless， but meetings with Chens parents helped inspire her to carry on. “I really wanted to do something to relieve his parents pain and make them feel better， ” she said. “It was also hard for me to let go of the case after years of effort.” Wang Wanqiong told our reporter that
19、on one occasion the Zhejiang high court called her and asked her to stop writing open letters online， saying that the court had interviewed three material witnesses who would testify on Chens behalf， and promising her a “satisfying answer” very soon. On February 1， 2016， the Peoples High Court of Zh
20、ejiang officially declared Chen innocent. Li Jinxing attributed the acquittal to the online coverage which sensationalized the case， bringing it to the attention of higher authorities. In addition to Chen Mans case，he added， all wrongful convictions that have been overturned to date were the focus o
21、f large-scale online awareness campaigns.？Li told our reporter that he is receiving a growing number of emails related to similar appeals. He estimates that China will see a peak in overturned convictions in five to 10 years. Online appeals to the public， Li is adamant， are the product of desperatio
22、n， and while they help bring miscarriages of justice to light， they can be a double-edged sword that shreds the mutual trust that should supposedly exist between lawyers and the judiciary. A judge who spoke on condition of anonymity told NewsChina that after Chen Man was acquitted， some staff member
23、s of the Peoples High Court of Hainan Province voiced their view that the courts have become a “stepping stone” for lawyers to “seek fame.”They also expressed dissatisfaction with the procuratorial organs. “To begin with， the Hainan provincial procuratorate thought that Chen Man had received an exce
24、ssively light penalty and insisted on an immediate execution. It was the high court who upheld the original verdict and saved Chens life， ” the same source told NewsChina. “Now， the SPP is blaming us for handing down an excessively heavy penalty.” This anonymous source went on to say that concern ex
25、ists in Chinese judicial circles that the more wrongful convictions are overturned， the more appeals will be lodged. With courts hearing hundreds of cases each year， he argued， judges have “no energy” to hear cases relating to previous convictions， even wrongful ones. “Unless cornered， ” he said， “c
26、ourts are unlikely to take the initiative on overturning a wrongful conviction.” Challenges Wang Wanqiong， a member of Chen Mans defense team， talks to media after her clients release， Haikou， Hainan Province， February 1， 2016 According to Wang Wanqiong， procuratorates and courts have historically m
27、aintained a “good relationship.” Procurators usually offer legal suggestions rather than lodging formal protests that would necessitate a retrial ?C viewed by judges， Wang re- marked， as a “slap in the face.” For their part， courts will keep inconvenient witnesses off the stand so as not to risk blo
28、cking the “suggested sentence” specified in the indictment provided by the procuratorate. The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China unveiled Chinas first directive to prevent miscarriages of justice in August 2013. This directive i
29、ncluded a requirement for courts to establish a“lifelong liability system” for judges ?C a system that would hold Chinas judges accountable in perpetuity for presiding over any miscarriages of justice. Neither Chens current legal team nor Chen himself wished to comment on this pledge. Chen fears tha
30、t seeking redress against those who wrongfully convicted him might complicate his application for compensation from the government. His counsel， meanwhile， are concerned about the potential impact on the outcome of future wrongful conviction cases. “If judicial officials are held accountable for any
31、 miscarriage of justice for their entire life， the most likely outcome is that they will rack their brains for ways to stop the overturning of convictions， ” said Yi Yanyou. Lawyers and legal scholars agree that rather than lifelong liability for judges， the best and easiest way to eradicate wrongfu
32、l judgments and the obtaining of false confessions under torture would be by guaranteeing the presence of defense lawyers at all criminal hearings. While the Hainan court has never acknowledged that Chens confession was obtained under torture， Yi argued that only torture could extract a false confes
33、sion from someone charged with a capital crime. Chen Man told NewsChina that， on one occasion， police officers took him to the top of a building and threatened to throw him off the roof if he refused to confess， claiming they would tell their superiors that Chen committed suicide to escape punishmen
34、t. He described being deprived of sleep while in detention， and how his captors coached him on what to say in court. According to Yuan Ningning， a legal researcher at Beijing Normal University， the use of torture during interrogations became commonplace during a high-profile government crackdown on
35、criminality in the 1980s and 1990s， a campaign which led to Chinas huge number of miscarriages of justice. “At that time， the police had little awareness of human rights protection. They pursued a high clearance rate and their investigative skills were inadequate， ” Yuan told China Daily. Yuan added
36、 that torture and coercion have become less routine since the government began to pursue selective legal and judicial reform. In 2012， the National Peoples Congress， Chinas top legislative body， officially banned torture in an amendment to the countrys Criminal Procedure Law. In 2013， the SPC releas
37、ed a guideline requiring courts to rule evidence “obtained through improper methods” as inadmissible. The revisions helped to overturn 778 convictions in 2014 alone， according to a report by the SPC. Now back at home and recovering from a gastric illness contracted in jail， Chen told our reporter he was keen to launch his own online startup， though he has yet to decide in which field. Asked if he has any advice for others wrongfully convicted of crimes， he offered a succinct reassurance： “As long as you have been treated unjustly， lodge your appeal fairly and confidently.”
