Peking University, Nov.5, 2011: The President of Peking University (PKU) has backed the school's vice president in encouraging their students to become good Samaritans at a press conference Wednesday.

PKU will help students who are framed or blackmailed for trying to be a good Samaritan, said Zhou Qifeng, president of PKU, the Beijing News reported Thursday.

"We've got legal experts, and we can raise funds and call on media for more support," said Zhou, according to the report.

On September 21, Vice President Wu Zhipan said at a meeting for PKU alumni that if their students helped out an elderly stranger who had fallen on the street, and were then accused of having caused the accident, PKU would offer them free legal support. They will cover the compensation for the blackmailers if they lost the lawsuit. The school can offer 200,000 yuan ($31,480) and raise funds on campus if it is not enough, he said. Wu's words were warmly welcomed online after PKU alumnus Yang Yong first posted them on his Sina Weibo.

Wu's suggestions were raised after a series of cases nationwide during the past years, when good Samaritans were blackmailed or even sued by accident victims they had helped. 

According to a Legal Mirror report on October 8, among the 15 cases in recent years when good Samaritans were blackmailed by the elderly people they helped, one third ended up paying compensation as they could not prove their innocence. 

Even when they did have proof, for example a witness or video records, those who tried to frame or blackmail them were not punished at all.

Edited by: Arthars

Source: People’s Daily Online