Amid concerns about the economy and social environment due to recent unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang, Supreme People’s Court President, Wang Shengjun, has said that the court will work to improve protection of economic and social development through judicial reform. Wang also criticized some judges for taking bribes and corruption. It is not known how Wang’s claims will be put into action. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
“Some courts have not done well in improving transparency of court affairs and promoting a democratic judicial system,” Wang said in delivering the report to an audience that included China’s top leaders.
This year, the Supreme Court will work to reform court procedures to speed up proceedings of civil cases involving small sums of money, and improve rules allowing citizens to observe trials, he said.
Wang said courts should make more efforts in accepting supervision from the general public, including soliciting opinions from the public and giving more heed to media reports.
In the same address, Wang also claimed that China has convicted over 1 million people in 2011 in order to punish crimes and maintain a stable environment. Xinhua adds:
The courts concluded 840,000 criminal cases in 2011, up 7.7 percent from 2010, said the report on the work of the Supreme People’s Court, delivered by chief justice Wang Shengjun at a meeting of the ongoing annual parliamentary session.
Of the convicted, some 105,000 were found guilty of serious crimes such as homicide, kidnapping, robbery, planting bombs, organizing mafia-like gangs and human trafficking, involving 69,000 cases, the report said.
Another 29,000 criminals in 27,000 cases were punished for embezzlement, bribery and malfeasance, the report said.
