Chief justice warns of weakness, pledges reform in court system

Zhou Qiang, president of China's Supreme People's Court (SPC), delivers a report on the SPC's work at the third plenary meeting of the second session of China's 12th National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 10, 2014. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Chief Justice Zhou Qiang warned against some judges' bureaucracy and misconduct Monday, when elaborating problems in China's court system.  [Special coverage]

"Some judges and court staff showed bureaucracy at work and enjoyed privileges. They were indifferent to litigants and some even took bribes and bent the law for personal ends. People are angry with them," said Zhou, when delivering a work report of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) at the second session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC).

In June last year, three judges and a discipline official with a Shanghai court were found to have solicited prostitutes by a netizen who released a video footage on the Internet.

The SPC issued a strong-worded statement, accusing them of tarring the image of the nation's judges and scarring judicial credibility. They were dismissed later.

Last month, Liu Yong, an SPC official, was suspected of taking bribes of over 2 million yuan (330,000 U.S. dollars) in exchange for intervening in trials. Liu was transferred to judicial organs and related departments have decided to expel him from public office.

According to Zhou's report, a total of 381 judges and court staff were caught misusing their power and violating disciplines and laws, 101 of whom were prosecuted.

Zhou also noted that some courts were not efficient and delivered wrong verdicts, which damaged the interests of litigants and credibility of the court.

More efforts should be made to ensure independent exercise of jurisdiction and improve the quality and efficiency of trials, he said.

Common people still find it difficult to lodge and proceed with a lawsuit while, in many cases, court orders are not enforced, he said.

A proposal from Zhou Haibo, an NPC deputy from south China's Guangdong Province, echoed the chief justice's report on the management of judges that affected the efficiency and independent jurisdiction of courts.

In his proposal submitted to the NPC, Zhou said since Chinese judges are now under the same assessment and promotion system as civil servants, many judges are inclined to seeking promotion through hierarchic ranks other than perfecting professional performance.

"Instead of being a good judge, they may prefer being a resourceful official," he wrote in the proposal.

Also, since the budget of courts and promotion of judges are linked with the administration at the same level, independent jurisdiction has been affected, he added.

The chief justice's report noted that, as the number of lawsuits keeps increasing, a number of local courts are running short of judges and staff, especially in underdeveloped and remote areas.

Last year, local courts at various levels heard more than 14.22 million cases of various types, up 7.4 percent over 2012, and concluded 12.95 million cases, up 4.4 percent.

Zhang's research also accorded with the report. He cited city courts at Qingyuan, a small city in Guangdong. The total number of cases handled by the courts increased by 52.7 percent from 2008 to 2012 but the number of judges and court staff dropped by about 8 percent.

Pledging to work hard to solve these problems, the chief justice said the SPC will push forward the reform of court system and supervise the behavior of judges.

The reform will include reducing the government's influence on jurisdiction, improving transparency of trials and exploring a way to set up a jurisdiction system of courts that is not completely based on administrative divisions, according to the report.