China issues 1st white paper for judicial transparency

China's top court Tuesday released its first white paper on courts' judicial transparency, stating that live reports of more than 80,000 trials have been conducted by courts at various levels in 2014.

Court trials are key to judicial transparency and courts have disclosed trials via video, audio, graphics and texts on social networking accounts or other online platforms, according to the white paper issued by the Supreme People's Court (SPC).

A total of 519 trials have been aired live on video through China Court's Live Trial website (ts.chinacourt.org), which was established by the SPC on December 11, 2013.

The trial of former senior official Bo Xilai in August 2013 was included in the white paper as an example of courts' efforts to promote judicial transparency. The five-day trial was simultaneously reported in text on the official Sina Weibo account of Ji'nan Intermediate People's Court in Shandong Province. "Over 150 Weibo messages with nearly 160,000 words" were sent, the white paper noted.

When asked by the media whether cases like Bo Xilai's trial can be broadcast via TV, He Xiaorong, head of the judicial reform office at the SPC, told a press conference on Tuesday that the court needs to follow laws when deciding which cases should put on an open trial.

Liu Yanjie, deputy dean of Ji'nan Intermediate People's Court, said Monday that the live broadcast of Bo's trial demonstrated the court's confidence in their ability to deliver a just verdict and determination to safeguard judicial transparency.

"If Bo's trial can be disclosed, why not hear other trials openly?" Liu said.

According to laws and regulations, all types of cases should be put on open trials, except cases related to juvenile, privacy, and State secrets.

He added that the SPC has already set up national platforms for disclosing proceeds information, verdicts, reconciliation and enforcement information. More than 6.29 million verdicts had been disclosed online by the courts by the end of February 2015, He said. The website for court verdict disclosure was founded in July 2013.

The SPC will focus on promoting judicial transparency in central and western China where technical readiness lags behind, he noted.