Full Text: Progress in China's Human Rights in 2014

IV. Right to Impartial Trial

In 2014 China's judicial bodies at all levels enhanced judicial justice and openness, adopted multiple judicial reform measures and ensured impartiality in the trial of cases, thereby safeguarding human rights in the field of justice at a higher level.

Judicial justice maintained. Public security, procuratorial and judicial bodies continued to implement relevant laws and regulations to improve the mechanisms of preventing, identifying and redressing cases involving unjust, false and wrongful charges throughout all criminal procedures from investigation to prosecution to trials. In 2014 the people's courts at all levels punished criminals in accordance with the law, protected the lives and property of the people, concluded 1.023 million cases of first instance, and convicted 1.184 million people. Based on the principles of "statutory crime and penalty," "no punishment in doubtful cases" and "evidentiary adjudication," the courts acquitted 518 defendants in cases of public prosecution and 260 in cases of private prosecution, thereby maintaining the freedom of innocent people. The Supreme People's Court issued the Measures of the Supreme People' s Court for Listening to Opinions of Defense Lawyers in the Handling of Death Penalty Review Cases. It ensured lawyers' rights to search case-filing information and consult case files, and empowered lawyers to present defense arguments directly to judges of the Supreme People's Court. Procuratorial bodies at all levels got the investigation bodies to cancel 17,673 cases that should not have been filed; provided 54,949 opinions to correct illegal investigation activities such as misuse of compulsory measures, illegally obtaining evidence and extorting confessions by torture; got 116,553 arrests and 23,269 prosecutions annulled since the conducts in question did not constitute crimes or lacked sufficient evidence. Following the trial supervision procedures, the people's courts altered the judgments of 1,317 criminal cases after retrial. A number of major criminal cases involving unjust, false, or wrongful charges were redressed in accordance with the principle of "no punishment in doubtful cases." The Higher People's Court of Fujian Province heard the poisoning case involving Nian Bin, and acquitted the suspect on the ground of "lacking sufficient evidence." The Higher People's Court of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region retried the case of Hugjiltu who was originally charged with intentional homicide and indecent assault, and absolved him of guilt.

Judicial openness increased. The Supreme People's Court implemented the Several Opinions on Advancing the Establishment of the Three Major Platforms of Judicial Openness. A trial procedure information platform has been established so that litigants can inquire about the progress of their cases, and a judgment disclosure platform has been created. On January 1, 2014, the Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the Publicizing of Written Judgments of the People's Courts on the Internet was officially implemented. In 2014, a total of 6.294 million judgments were publicized on the Internet, of which 7,993 were published by the Supreme People's Court. An execution information disclosure platform has been built. China has improved the system of publicizing the name and other information of people who fail to obey the rulings of the people's court. In 2014 China published information about 1.1 million such persons, and enforced punitive measures 1.5 million times, including restricting them from high consumption. On October 1, 2014 the Provisions on Case Information Disclosure by the People's Procuratorates (Trial) was implemented. China has completed the construction of a nationwide system of case information disclosure by procuratorial bodies, putting into operation the four platforms of case procedural information inquiry, legal documentation disclosure, information disclosure of major cases, and application by appointment for defense and representation.

The system of excluding illegally obtained evidence implemented. Public security, procuratorial and judicial bodies have further improved the implementation mechanism of excluding illegally obtained evidence. They would refuse evidence obtained by these means: confessions of criminal suspects or defendants that are extorted by torture or other illegal means, witnesses' testimonies or victims' presentations obtained through violence or threats, material or written evidence obtained by violating legal procedures, and other actions that might severely affect justice, and to which no correction or supplementation can be made or reasonable explanations given. In 2014, by refusing to adopt illegally obtained evidence, procuratorial bodies at all levels decided not to arrest 406 people and not sue 198 people. During the investigation and examination of an intentional homicide case, the People' s Procuratorate of Shunping County in Hebei Province identified multiple questionable points, resolutely refused to adopt illegally obtained evidence, decided not to arrest the suspect by the family name of Wang, and urged more investigations, with the result that the real culprit was apprehended.

Judicial system reform advanced. The Third Meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening the Reform deliberated on and adopted the Framework Opinions on Several Issues Concerning Judicial System Reform and other documents. Shanghai Municipality and Guangdong, Jilin, Hubei, Hainan, Guizhou and Qinghai provinces were designated as pilot areas to implement four judicial reform measures, namely, improving the categorized management of judicial personnel, improving the judicial accountability system, improving the career security of judicial personnel, and implementing the integrated management of personnel, finance and property in the people's courts and procuratorates below the provincial level. According to the Plan of the Supreme People's Court on Setting up Pilot Circuit Courts, the Supreme People's Court set up the First Circuit Court in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, and the Second Circuit Court in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province, to hear major administrative, civil and business cases across administrative regions, shifting its work focus to lower levels and resolving disputes on the spot, thus making it more convenient for the ordinary people to file lawsuits and ensuring judicial justice. In line with the Opinions of the Supreme People's Court on Comprehensibly Deepening the Reform of the People's Courts, Beijing and Shanghai have set up trans-administrative regional intermediate courts to handle major criminal, civil and administrative cases; Beijing and Shanghai have been exploring ways of setting up trans-administrative regional people's procuratorates, focusing on administrative litigation supervision cases, major civil and business supervision cases, major duty-related cases, major criminal cases concerning environmental and resource protection and food and drug safety, so as to ensure that the law is enforced correctly and consistently across the country.

Administrative adjudication system reformed and improved. The Standing Committee of the NPC adopted the resolution on amending the Administrative Litigation Law, further improving the systems covering every aspect of administrative litigation, from bringing a case to court, the trial of the case, to making of the judgment and enforcement, so as to further protect the lawful rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations. China has expanded the case-filing scope for administrative litigation to include such activities as administrative bodies' abuse of power to exclude and restrict competition, illegal raising of funds and apportioning expenses, and failing to provide subsistence allowances or social security benefits. China practices case-filing registration and has extended the time limit for prosecution to six months. In 2014 the people' s courts at all levels took up 151,000 administrative cases of first instance and concluded 131,000 of them, up 16.3 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively, over 2013. Shandong, Guangdong, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Yunnan and Henan provinces continued the pilot work of centralized jurisdiction of trans-regional administrative cases.

Judicial protection of intellectual property rights improved. In 2014 Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou set up intellectual property courts. The Supreme People' s Court issued the Guiding Opinions on Selecting and Appointing Judges for Intellectual Property Courts (Trial), which prescribed the principles, criteria and approaches for selecting and appointing such judges, and improved the professional level of intellectual property adjudication. In 2014 the people's procuratorates at all levels prosecuted 9,427 persons for infringement of trademarks, patents, copyrights or business secrets, up 7.1 percent over 2013. The people's courts at all levels concluded 110,000 intellectual property cases of first instance, up 10 percent over 2013.

State compensation and judicial assistance enhanced. China has made it clear that the principles and conditions guiding the compensation for psychological damage can be applied in state compensation cases, and is making efforts to build a joint mechanism for state compensation to safeguard the lawful rights and interests of compensation applicants. In 2014 the people's courts at all levels concluded 2,708 state compensation cases, and decided on a compensation amount totaling 110 million yuan. China has improved the criminal victim relief system, reducing or exempting litigation fees totaling 180 million yuan, so as to protect the litigation relief rights of impoverished people.