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Court cancels fines for some prisoners

By Huang Zhiling and Wang Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-09 08:21

CHENGDU -- Long Jin from the earthquake-hit province of Sichuan will not have to pay a fine which he received with a jail sentence for robbery.

Judges from the Shanghai Pudong New Area Court traveled 318 km to Baimaoling Juntianhu prisons in Xuancheng, Anhui province, to tell Long, and three others, also convicted of robbery, that their fines had been canceled.

It was the country's first such case, the Beijing-based Legal Daily said.

Long, 30, is a farmer from Anxian, Sichuan. In February last year, Long was arrested by Shanghai police for robbery. Three months later, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison by the Shanghai Pudong New Area Court and fined 2,000 yuan ($300).

In April this year, Long's wife died leaving twin daughters who were attending primary school. The May 12 quake had destroyed the family's four houses.

Long was worried about how he would be able to pay the fine upon his release.

According to Chinese law, fines are imposed on people who commit economic or property crimes, or infringe upon a citizen's democratic rights.

The Baimaoling and Juntianhu prisons, which are under Shanghai's jurisdiction, have more than 4,000 inmates. A number of them are migrant workers from the quake-hit areas of Sichuan who have being convicted of robbery.

"Judicial departments in Shanghai looked at ways to ease the economic and psychological burden on these people," Lu Wende, a judge of the Shanghai Pudong New Area Court, said.

The departments decided to cancel the fines imposed on prisoners from areas hard hit by the quake, he said.

The prisons sent letters to various civil affairs departments and public security bureaus to verify whether inmates' families had been affected by the quake, and whether they could pay the fines.

In another development, Sichuan will release about 2,000 elderly, sick and disabled prisoners on probation by the end of next year.

Sichuan currently has more than 5,000 such prisoners, an official with the provincial prison management bureau, Sun Zeng, said.