No prosecution yet on Zhou Yongkang case, SPC says

The court has not been informed of a prosecution decision against former security chief Zhou Yongkang, who has been officially under investigation since July 29, China's top court revealed on Wednesday.

The probe into Zhou Yongkang clearly demonstrates that no Party member could be above the law, Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), said on Tuesday.

Zhou Yongkang, now being probed for suspected "serious disciplinary violation," is the highest-ranking official to have been investigated for corruption since the republic was founded in 1949.

Wang Qishan, secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), gave a speech on anti-graft at the opening of the seventh session of the Standing Committee of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee on Monday.

It is the first time that the CCDI secretary has attended a meeting of the CPPCC Standing Committee, and it is also rare to discuss anti-corruption issues at such meetings, which normally focus more on economic issues, said analysts.

More than 40 provincial-level officials have been probed in the sweeping anti-corruption campaign since November 2012. When asked whether there are "bigger tigers" to come - referring to senior-ranking officials - following the case of Zhou, Wang said, "You'll see afterward," cnr.cn reported on Wednesday. The post was later deleted.

Zhou Qiang also pointed out that the situation was grim and the task of combating corruption within China's court system was arduous. His remarks were closely followed by a SPC open day to foreign embassies in China on Wednesday.

The SPC invited diplomats from 16 embassies to attend the event in a bid to promote judicial transparency, in which they listened to a trial concerning an intellectual patent case between a German bathroom-fittings company and a domestic sanitary ware manufacturer.

China's courts have made great efforts to publicize the process of trials and broaden the scope of the disclosure, Sun Jungong, spokesperson for the SPC, replied, when asked whether courts would continue publicizing corruption cases.

He took the trial of Bo Xilai, former Chongqing Party chief, to illustrate that they have opened up channels to make trials public.

In addition to graft cases, other cases that catch wide attention would also be exposed to the public, Sun said, adding that the disclosure refers to real-time updates on Sina Weibo and the like.

Sun refused to answer whether the trial of Zhou Yongkang will be disclosed like that of Bo Xilai, if he were to be prosecuted.

Tong Zhiwei, a professor with the East China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times that he expected an open trial for Zhou Yongkang, since an open hearing will not exert negative influence on society and is unlikely to involve State secrets.