Lawyers hail Yunnan's suspension of laojiao system(2)

An unnamed official from the Yunnan Politics and Law Committee said they had planned to "properly solve the remaining problems," carrying on the laojiao for those already in the camps and combining laojiao reforms with the building of other facilities, such as drug rehabilitation centers.

China's laojiao sentences came into question in recent months after two high-profile cases involving suspected misuse of the camps.

Last month, a court in the southwestern city of Chongqing rejected an appeal from Ren Jianyu, a 25-year-old village official, against his 2011 sentence of two years in a labor camp for spreading "negative information and inciting the subversion of state power."

Ren was released in November last year, after serving just over half of his sentence.

The controversy was also highlighted by the case of Tang Hui, a woman in central Hunan Province who was sentenced to internment in a labor camp in August after demanding tougher penalties for the seven men convicted of abducting, raping and prostituting her 11-year-old daughter.

Tang was released within a week following complaints from the public and academics.

Jiang Wei, a senior official in charge of judicial reforms, in October said the necessity of the reforms had been recognized and a related plan was being formulated.

This year, the government will push the reform of the system, according to the national political and legal work conference that concluded on Jan. 8.

In late January, south China's Guangdong Province also said it had planned to end the system within the year.