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A national inspection campaign aimed at improving fairness and efficiency in the judicial system started on Friday. It emphasizes four major tasks: improving jurisprudence; correcting ways of working; improving efficiency; and examining judges' behaviour.
The Supreme People's Court issued a regulation on Thursday reinforcing the implementation of China's Law on the Judiciary of 1995.
The regulation clarifies which forms of behaviour are prohibited, such as the taking of bribes, securing a confession by torture, concealing or fabricating evidence.
It also clarifies the corresponding punishments, including removal of a judicial official from their post and prosecution under criminal law. It offers more explicit and workable guidance for inspections.
Such an extensive move on self-inspection is welcome. However, more external supervision is needed to root out judicial corruption.
Corruption has long been a problem affecting the judicial system.
Though the Law on the Judiciary included a list of banned behaviour, there has been no effective inspection mechanism. The courts, the Communist Party of China, the people's congresses and the supervisory institutions all have the power to deal with corrupt judges, but there are few such inspections.
Strengthening supervision of the judicial system has thus become a pressing issue.
In addition to tightening internal inspections, more external supervision will be a great help, such as through the institutionalization of an independent impeachment mechanism. Such a mechanism would protect the public's right to know and contribute to the fairness and transparency of judicial procedures.
It is to be hoped that concrete measures will be taken and that the latest three-month inspection campaign, the first of its kind in the 21st century, will be a success.
(China Daily June 23, 2003)
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