Supreme Court sets a deadline for legal reform
Print Edition
CHINA’S top court has set a five-year deadline for legal reforms to protect the rights of individuals, prevent miscarriages of justice and make its judiciary more professional.
A statement posted on the Supreme People’s Court website yesterday promises specific deadlines for each goal, including support for a “social atmosphere of justice” by 2018.
It gave more details of a decision reached at a four-day meeting last year, when the Party pledged to speed up legislation to fight corruption and make it tougher for officials to exert control over the judiciary.
The court said one of the five basic principles of legal reform was adhering to the Party’s leadership and “ensuring the correct political orientation.”
He Xiaorong, director of the court’s reform division, said the court “would make officials bear responsibility for dereliction of duty” for cases that have a wide impact.
“Only through the establishment of such a system can we ensure that we can guarantee social fairness and justice in every case,” He told a news conference.
The measures reflect increasing public concern, with anger over land grabs, corruption and pollution — issues often left unresolved by courts — resulting in violence between police and residents in recent years.
The court said it would prohibit defendants from wearing vests and jumpsuits at their trials, effectively removing a common presumption of guilt. It also promised to strengthen measures to stop the use of torture to obtain evidence and “effectively prevent miscarriages of justice.”
It would also establish a performance evaluation system for judges, “perfect the mechanism for protecting lawyers’ rights” and establish media galleries in courts for certain trials.
It also promised to boost transparency, saying it would make more information available, and reduce local protectionism by changing the jurisdiction of courts.
Earlier this week, the court had urged Party officials to shun Western-style judicial independence and reject “erroneous Western thought.”
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