Employees of the martyrs' cemetery in Luohe, Central China's Henan Province, on Sunday organize bouquets that local residents brought in honor of Wang Zhuoran, 24, who died in the Galwan Valley skirmish with India in June 2020. Photo: VCG

The work reports of China's top court and procuratorate authorities have highlighted cases involving border clash martyrs and included vows to protect soldiers' legal rights, which recognized heroes' contributions to the country and will lead society to respect heroes, observers said. 

Chief Justice Zhou Qiang and Procurator-General Zhang Jun delivered their work reports at the ongoing annual session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) on Monday, which provided numbers and specific examples of the top judicial organs' progress during the past year.

Zhou vowed to protect the legal rights of military personnel and their families, and defend the dignity and honor of PLA soldiers. The chief justice also cited a case where a border clash martyr's family got quick compensation in a legal case. 

Zhang in the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) work report stated that heroes must not be slandered and the law must not be challenged, citing the case of a man surnamed Qiu, known as Labixiaoqiu online, defaming martyrs who died in border clashes with India last year.

Qiu was charged in East China's Jiangsu Province on March 1 for violating an amendment to the Criminal Law that bans defaming martyrs' honor and reputations, on the same day the amendment took effect. 

The report received wide public attention online and the hashtag "SPP report names Labixiaoqiu case" ranked at the top of the most searched topics on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo after the NPC session. 

A PLA veteran who was deployed in Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region and asked to remain anonymous told the Global Times on Monday that the majority of the public respect soldiers and martyrs, but there are still actions defaming these groups. The judicial organs' reports could help crack down on such illegal deeds.

"I'm glad to see that the reports emphasize protecting the legal rights of military personnel and I also feel that the government is paying attention to us," the veteran said, noting that the respectful atmosphere and legal charters would encourage more youths to join the cause of border defense with less concern. 

The Supreme People's Court (SPC), which concluded 35,773 cases in 2020, also emphasized achievements in fighting against graft, local mafia and the protection of citizens' right of personality, in its work report. 

Both judicial organs identified the case of Zhang Yuhuan, a convicted "child murderer," whose conviction was overturned in August 2020 after serving 26 years in jail. He received a national compensation of 4.96 million yuan ($760,000). 

Li Shaoping, a deputy head of the SPC, told the media that judicial authorities should correct wrongful convictions in a timely way, in accordance with the law, which will help establish the judiciary's authority and credibility.

Chinese courts handled 130,000 appeals of criminal cases in the past eight years and changed convictions of 11,000, Li said.