Within 3 years, all verdicts to be public

China's top court vowed at the ongoing two sessions to further push judicial openness, including public disclosure of all courts' verdicts within three years.  [Special coverage]

In November, in a move to improve transparency in the judicial system, the Supreme People's Court created a website detailing verdicts that had taken effect.

So far, the top court has disclosed 3,858 verdicts, while grassroots courts put about 1.65 million judgments on the site, according to the SPC work report issued on Monday.

Zhou Qiang, the top court's president, said public disclosure of judicial documents was a good way to popularize legal knowledge, as well as to educate judges and help them to become more professional.

Zhou told deputies on Tuesday that the top court will continue deepening judicial transparency this year.

During the panel discussion, Zhang Liyong, president of Henan provincial High People's Court, echoed Zhou. He said publicizing judgments and other legal information in a timely manner and thoroughly could effectively prevent wrongful cases and judicial corruption.

Only by boosting judicial openness will the courts gain trust from the people, Zhang said.

Under the guidance of the top court, East and Central China's 14 provinces and municipalities, including Henan and Guangdong provinces, have shared their verdicts on the Internet since Jan 1, in a move to drive judicial bodies in the country's western areas toward the goal in the following three years, the report said.

Wang Xinsheng, president of an intermediate people's court in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, said judges should not only put their verdicts online but also reply to residents' questions about judicial documents promptly.

So far, courts in Zhengzhou have opened more than 100,000 verdicts, putting their judgments under a spotlight, according to a statement of the top court.

Courts in Chongqing municipality have also been among the first batch to disclose verdicts, but Qian Feng, president of Chongqing High People's Court, said there are challenges on the road to judicial transparency.

"The opening-up raised the bar for judges. They must write verdicts more carefully and accurately," said Qian, also a deputy to the National People's Congress. "Judges have to improve their professional ability in hearing cases and reducing misjudgments."

If verdicts are written clearly, they will reduce the chances of second trials and boost judicial efficiency, he said.

Although residents in coastal regions can trace verdicts on courts' websites or follow the micro blogs of judicial bodies, they still have a gap with more developed areas when it comes to methods of disclosing legal affairs, such as trial broadcasting.

Zheng E, president of Guangdong High People's Court, said different regions have different standards for court information and suggested the top court create a unified standard countrywide for the disclosure of court information, using funding from the central government.

In this way, the top court can provide financing and technological aid in accordance with the needs of grassroots courts, he said.

Chinese courts pushed judicial transparency and broadcast court hearings more than 45,000 times on the Internet in 2013, according to a statement of the top court.

Of the trials disclosed on micro-blogging platforms, the ones of former senior official Bo Xilai and former minister of railways Liu Zhijun — broadcast by Jinan Intermediate People's Court and Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court — got the greatest public attention.