China launches special campaign to rectify miscarriages of justice

China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) on Tuesday launched a special campaign to rein in "unregulated judicial conduct".

A statement from the SPP said authorities will run a full review of all unregulated conduct in judicial cases over the past two years, focusing on the "judical philosophy, proceedings as well as discipline and work conduct" of prosecutors.

The statement did not elaborate on what was defined as unregulated judicial conduct, but said prosecutors that breach laws and regulations, and damage society will be "resolutely dealt with".

Lawmakers, political advisors, police officers, court staff, police, lawyers and the public will also be invited offer their opinions, it said.

A number of wrongful convictions publicized recently have raised concerns over miscarriages of justice.

One such conviction was that of an 18-year-old man named Huugjilt who was found guilty of rape and murder by an Inner Mongolian court in 1996. He was executed the same year.

Almost a decade later, serial rapist and killer Zhao Zhihong admitted to the murder when arrested in 2005. Huugjilt was acquitted in December 2014.

In another case, Nie Shubin, a native of Hebei Province, was executed in 1995 at the age of 21 after being convicted of the rape and murder of a woman in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei.

In 2005, while in police custody for three unconnected rape and murder cases, Wang Shujin confessed to the crime.

Wang was sentenced to death in 2007. However, in 2013, Hebei Higher People's Court, which approved Nie's death penalty in 1995, overruled Wang's claim. In December, the Supreme People's Court passed the case on to Shandong Higher People's Court to review.

A one-day hearing was held on Tuesday. Endi