A Supreme People's Court judge has made clear that the court protects the right of citizens to file complaints about judgments they believe to be erroneous.

"It is a part of the 'rule of law' for courts to receive and handle complaints since the laws in China stipulate the existence of the procedure for trial supervision," said Ma Yingxin, vice-director of the division under the Supreme People's Court that decides if a case is triable. Ma also stressed that the complaints received by courts are appellant in nature.

China's criminal, civil and administrative procedure laws all clarify that parties can appeal to the higher courts if they are not convinced by court verdicts that have already taken effect.

Such appeals are examined in special offices within courts before final decisions are made as to whether retrials are necessary. Retrials would be carried out either by the courts which passed down the original verdicts or those receiving the complaints.

Official figures indicate that the Supreme People's Court received more than 120,000 letters and visits of litigation-related complaints last year.

The reception office of the Supreme People's Court, the court's designated department for receiving and handling complainants and their letters, was established in the late 1970s after "cultural revolution" (1966-1976). The decade during which China's legal system was virtually defunct left many looking for re-examination of the punishments they had received.

The office now has 18 staff responsible for receiving visitors and more than 20 specializing in handling letters from across the country. They dealt with around 100,000 such letters last year.

According to Ma, most of the complaints filed by rural complainants relate to disputes over land contracts, housing and reserved land for house construction, while claimed infringements of rights in urban renovation is the key concern aired amongst city dwellers.

A regulation issued by the Supreme People's Court last summer not only set down deadlines for complaint-handling offices in courts nationwide to respond to appellants but also canvassed the public over its major concerns.

"Our work is not to bar the complainants from visiting us, but to protect any lodging of complaints that is legal," said Ma. "It is a legal right of citizens to file their complaints with courts."

Ma added that while a well-functioning mechanism for receiving complaints is important, courts should also work hard to produce high-quality and convincing verdicts in trials.

(China Daily March 13, 2004)