Book launch: ‘Presumption of Innocence Under China's 'National Conditions'’
When: Monday, February 9, 2026, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Where: Room 2.10 (second Floor), Laws bulding, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road London E1 4NS
Drawing on broader legal-political discourses within the party-state and institutionalised academia, this book examines one of the most controversial legal principles in Chinese criminal justice: the presumption of innocence. By exploring the evolution of academic discourse surrounding this concept, the book traces its development through changing political climates, from the era of Mao Zedong to the leadership of Xi Jinping. It explains why there is no presumption of innocence in Chinese criminal justice, offering insights into the interplay between law and politics, or varying emphases on ‘national conditions’, over time. The work highlights how periods of reform, particularly during more liberal phases, allowed for the emergence of pluralist perspectives and constructive critique within institutionalised academia, with the concern for better protection of human rights becoming increasingly important. In contrast, the deepening of the autocratic system under Xi Jinping, which has redefined the conception of the criminal justice system and steered it towards a more illiberal direction, has suppressed the advocacy of liberal values, thus ending decades of debate on the question of presumption of innocence in China.
Chair:
Dr Matthieu Burnay, Reader in Global Law and Faculty Dean,
Speaker:
Dr Kaiser is currently an Academic Counciller (Assistant Professor) at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen0-Nuremberg, where she is affiliated with the Chair for Human Rights Law. Her research focuses on China and Taiwan. She obtained her doctorate in China Regional Studies and Law from the University of Cologne in 2021. Alexandra has several years of experience in academia and has studied and researched at Tamkang University in Taipei, the Chinese University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, Nanjing University, the Human Rights Center of Central South University in Changsha and King’s College London. Her research was funded by Academia Sinica and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, among others. Before joining the Chair for Human Rights Law at FAU in March 2025, Alexandra worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica in Taipei. Previously, Alexandra worked as a research associate at the Chair of Chinese Legal Culture at the University of Cologne (2017-2020) and as a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Human Rights Politics (Professor Dr Katrin Kinzelbach) at FAU, where she coordinated a project on “Academic Freedom in the People’s Republic of China” funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (2021-2024).
Discussants:
Dr Grace (Yu) Mou is a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Grace’s research interests lie primarily in Asian criminal justice, comparative criminal procedure, and socio-legal studies, especially in the country of China. Her research examines the on-going criminal justice reform in China, which is set within a broad range of contexts -- of political, occupational and legal cultures -- from the value of deference to authority, hierarchical structures, retribution and deterrence, to the integration of these into the state apparatus which determine the way state power is exercised. Her research seeks to provide a rich description of the criminal process in action, and stimulate debate of the difficult legal issues concerning the way China deals with matters relating to criminal justice and human rights.
Professor Eva Pils holds the chair in Human Rights Law at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. Eva Pils is an interdisciplinary expert on international human rights law with special focus on China. She is an Alexander von Humboldt Professor at FAU and holds the Chair of Human Rights Law. She is also a member and part of the collegiate directorship team of the FAU Center for Human Rights Erlangen Nuremberg. Eva studied law, philosophy and sinology in Heidelberg, London, and Beijing and holds a PhD in law from University College London. Before joining FAU in 2024, Eva held tenured positions at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law (2007-2014) and at King’s College London (2014-2024), where she was appointed Professor of Law in 2018. She is also an affiliated scholar at the US-Asia Law Institute of New York University Law School (since 2012), an Affiliate with the King’s College London Lau China Institute and Transnational Law Institute (since 2014), and a Visiting Professor at Queen Mary University of London School of Law (since 2024). She has held positions as a Visiting Scholar at Institut d’Études Avanceées de Paris and European Institute for Chinese Studies (EURICS)/IEAP; as a Visiting Professor of Law at Columbia Law School; as an External Fellow at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law; and as Directrice d’études at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris.
This event is co-organised by the Alexander von Humboldt Chair for Human Rights at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and the Great Britain China Centre.