China's Chief Justice Zhou Qiang on Thursday expressed self-reproach for wrongful convictions and urged fellow judges to learn from them.

"We deeply reproach ourselves for letting wrongful convictions happen. Courts of all levels should learn a serious lesson from these cases," said Zhou, when delivering the work report of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) to the national legislature at the ongoing annual session.

The SPC will improve the mechanism to prevent and correct wrongful convictions, he said.

In 2014, courts nationwide reheard 1,317 cases and corrected a number of wrongful ones, according to Zhou's report.

China's Procurator-General Cao Jianming also stressed in his report Thursday that preventing wrongful convictions is a bottom line that prosecutors must always maintain.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) will improve the protocols for prosecutors' supervision of police investigation and detention of suspects, while expanding appeal channels for inmates and suspects in custody, Cao said when delivering his report to the national legislators.

The SPP is also researching a system in which appeals from suspects in custody and inmates can be handled by prosecutors of a different jurisdiction. He also urged prosecutors to protect lawyers' legal rights.

The SPP will blacklist and punish prosecutors who abuse their power and promptly correct their wrongdoings, Cao stressed.