The government has paid about 170 million yuan (22.97 million U.S. dollars) of state compensation to citizens in the past five years, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said on Wednesday.

The courts have closed about 12,000 cases seeking state compensation in the past five years, said a statement issued by the SPC.

The courts had worked for better implementation of the 1995 Law on State Compensation, according to Xiao Yang, China's Chief Justice. He said this effort had taken several forms. For instance, courts had adopted the practice of having both parties present in disputes over the amount and form of state compensation.

Many cases seeking state compensation implicate the government and law enforcement agencies. "The SPC has worked hard to safeguard the integrity of such lawsuits," Xiao said, and tried changing venues to avoid what he said was interference.

The SPC was also helping the legislature amend the law. An earlier report said that the SPC has worked out a draft amendment.

Legal experts have argued that the present law on state compensation has several weaknesses.

For one thing, compensation standards are comparatively low and don't cover mental anguish. For example, the compensation for impairing a citizen's personal freedom is equal to the average daily wage announced by the National Bureau of Statistics. This year, that figure is 83.66 yuan (11 U.S. dollars). This means a person will get just 11 U.S. dollars as compensation for being wrongfully detained by the police for 24 hours.
 
(Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2007)