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China serious to honor judicial reform commitments

By Liu Qiang: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, November 21, 2013

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China has pledged to promote judicial openness and strengthen human rights protection at the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). After big promises, China is now serious on concrete actions.

China will guarantee the independent and impartial exercise of its adjudicative and procuratorial powers and will improve its function mechanism of judicial powers, according to The Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms (the Decision) released days after the conclusion of the Third Plenum held from November 9 to 12.

The Decision states, "China will optimize the allocation of its judicial functions and powers, improve the mechanism where judicial organs share responsibilities, cooperate with and check up on each other. China will also strengthen and regulate the legal and social supervision of judicial activities. "

China has pledged to promote judicial openness and strengthen human rights protection at the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). [file photo]

Li Lin, director of the Institute of the Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believed that the new round of judicial reform will focus on eliminating the administrative interference in legal proceedings. "I personally believe that in order to improve the functional mechanism of judicial powers, we should address the administrative and bureaucratic interference in our courts and procuratorates and greatly promote judicial democracy and openness."Li explained.

In October 2012, China released its white paper entitled "Judicial Reform in China,"which provided a glimpse into China's judicial system and reform process. In the document, China promised to "set enhancing supervision over judicial power as the focus of future judicial reform, and to take a range of measures to strengthen legal supervision."

In mid-October 2013, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) issued a notice which announced that courts in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Shaanxi would in December start to pilot the two-year reform of judicial openness as well as the functional mechanism of adjudicative powers.

According to Hu Yunteng, director of the Research Office with the SPC, all the people's courts across the country should set up the hotline number "12368"and expand the content of judicial openness, including the disclosure of court trial procedures, legal documents and law enforcement information. We should make full use of modern social platforms such as Weibo, China's version of Twitter, and Weixin (WeChat) to answer the public concerns in a timely manner.

On the morning of Nov. 21, the SPC launched its Sina Weibo account. Its first 127-character tweet read, "In order to honor the promises of the Third Plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee, promote judicial openness, expand the channels for people to learn [information], participate and supervise judicial activities, the SPC account is officially launched today. As the official Weibo account of the Supreme People's Court of China, it will publish important adjudicative information from the people's courts at all levels, as well as major judicial interpretations and legal news. Welcome to follow."

The Decision also shed some light on China's determination to advance its human rights protection. According to the Decision, China will improve the human rights guarantee system, strictly follow the exclusionary rules in criminal proceedings and gradually reduce the number of crimes subject to the death penalty. What is more, the policy of re-education through labor camps will be abolished.

Nevertheless, a most recent CNN article sniffed at China's determination in terms of judicial reform, saying that "it would be naïve to think this effort will seriously address the human rights problems in China."This American presumption may prove slightly premature as it turns a blind eye to China's judicial reform efforts.

It has been an important goal for China's judicial reform to strengthen the protection of human rights. In 2004, an amendment was added to China's Constitution, saying "the state respects and protects human rights."In 2012, the Criminal Procedure Law (CPL) was revised and the clause "respecting and protecting human rights"was added to its general provisions. The revised CPL also unambiguously stipulates that no person may be forced to prove his or her own guilt, and no criminal suspects or defendants may be forced to confession.

China's judicial reform is moving in the right direction and has gained new momentum. Though Rome was not built in one day, China is serious to honor its commitments.