The controversial laojiao system — or re-education through labor — allows the police to confine people for up to four years without trial.

The three judges at the Yongzhou Intermediate People’s Court decided on Friday afternoon to reject the compensation request from Tang Hui, who filed a case against the local laojiao committee and demanded about 2,460 yuan ($397) in compensation in January.

Tang, the mother of a rape victim, was sentenced to 18 months in laojiao in Hunan’s Yongzhou city last year for repeatedly petitioning in front of government buildings. She complained that the local police had falsified evidence in her daughter’s rape case.

In October 2006, Tang's then 11-year-old daughter was kidnapped, raped and forced into prostitution. She was rescued on December 30, 2006.

Tang was released a week after being sentenced in August, as the laojiao committee said her daughter, who was only 17, still needs her mother’s care.