GUANGZHOU: A lawyer here has appealed to the National People's Congress for a judicial definition of the case involving a migrant worker sentenced to life imprisonment this week for withdrawing money he did not have from a malfunctioning ATM.

He Fujie, who works for the HJM International Law Office in the city, sent a letter yesterday to the National People's Congress, saying the case involving Xu Ting was not easy to define under the present law.

"The vagueness of the judicial definition lies primarily in whether or not an ATM is regarded as a banking institution," He said.