III. Judicial Guarantee for Human Rights
In 2004, China strengthened its judicial reform to ensure strict law
enforcement and fair administration of justice, and guarantee citizens' legal
rights according to law.
China has cracked down on various criminal offenses in accordance with law to
protect citizens' life and the safety of their property. From January to October
2004, the Chinese public security organs investigated and cracked 2.004 million
criminal cases. The people's courts at all levels wound up 644,248 criminal
cases of first instance, in which 767,951 criminals were sentenced, effectively
protecting the victims' legitimate rights and interests.
Adhering to the principle of "enforcing law in the interest of the people,"
the public security organs strengthened construction of the law enforcement
system to ensure that law enforcement is strict, just and humane, improved the
system of supervision over law enforcement, and made real efforts to solve some
outstanding problems in law enforcement. From September 2003 to October 2004,
the public security organs sorted out all the public security rules and
regulations in effect since the founding of the People's Republic of China
concerning the rights and duties of citizens, legal persons and other
organizations. Among the 1,871 laws and regulations, 558 remained, 1,077 were
abolished and 164 amended. In 2004, the public security organs worked out the
"Working Plan for Solving Outstanding Problems in Law Enforcement to Promote the
Construction of a Law Enforcement System of Public Security Organs," which
listed key problems to be solved in law enforcement over next three years, and
launched a special campaign to address breaches of regulations in law
enforcement to conscientiously solve the problems of seizing, sealing up,
freezing and confiscating properties, giving orders for business suspension and
rectification, and revocation of business certificates and licenses in violation
of set regulations. Meanwhile, the public security organs strengthened
supervision over key links in law enforcement related to the protection of human
rights. According to statistics, in 2004, the Chinese public security and
judicial organs handled 22,976 administrative reconsideration cases and 3,666
lawsuits, which were respectively 3.6 percent and 5.4 percent more than those of
the previous year. The quality of work in the handling of administrative cases
and level of administrative law enforcement were further improved.
The judicial organs have adopted vigorous measures to prevent and contain
extended detention. In 2004, the Chinese procuratorial organs had no extended
detention, and urged other law-enforcing organs to correct the extended
detention of 7,132 people. The Chinese courts cleared up 873 old and new cases
of extended detention involving 2,432 people, settling all the cases save a
handful due to technical legal problems. By the end of 2004, the Chinese public
security organs had no extended detention.
The procuratorial organs have performed their functions
honestly, conscientiously strengthened legal supervision and safeguarded justice
in law enforcement. In 2004, the procuratorial organs rejected applications for
the arrest of 67,904 people; supervised over the canceling of investigation of
2,699 cases, which they found should not have been put on file for
investigation; made decisions not to prosecute 21,225 people; appealed against
court judgments of 3,063 criminal cases and 13,218 civil cases; proposed for
review of 4,333 cases; put 5,569 criminal appeal cases on file for
reinvestigation and changed the original judgments in 786 cases; and filed for
investigation cases of power abuse, dereliction of duty, soliciting or accepting
bribes and malpractices for personal gain involving 3,010 judicial personnel,
thus effectively safeguarding the citizens' rights and ensuring fairness and
justice. To strengthen the work of investigation and arrest, and to protect
suspects' legitimate rights and interests, the Supreme People's Procuratorate
formulated the "Opinions on Interrogating Suspects When Handling and
Investigating Cases Involving Arrest." At present, all the provincial
procuratorates, 349 at the prefecture and city level and 2,407 at the county
level are experimenting with the system of citizen supervisors. They account for
86 percent of the total number of procuratorates throughout the country. Under
the supervision of the citizen supervisors, 3,341 cases have been concluded,
thus effectively preventing handling of cases in violation of law and
guaranteeing the quality of case handling.
Since May 2004, the Supreme People's Procuratorate has carried out a special
campaign to severely deal with criminal cases involving government
functionaries' infringement upon human rights by misusing their powers, focusing
on cases of illegal detention and search, extorting confessions by torture,
gathering evidence with violence, abusing people in custody, disrupting
elections as well as serious cases of dereliction of duty that cause heavy
losses of life and property of the people. In total, 1,595 government
functionaries suspected of criminal activities were investigated and prosecuted,
thus effectively bringing under control offences of infringement on rights.
The judicial organs have strengthened supervision over trials and the
handling of petitions and visits involving legal procedures and lawsuits.
Adhering to the principle of "handling each and every appeal," they have
addressed the "obstacles to appeal" in a practical way. In 2004, the
procuratorates throughout the country handled and concluded 20,306 cases of
appeal according to law, the people's courts at all levels handled 4.22 million
petitions and visits of complaint, and corrected the judgments in 16,967 cases
that were proved to be wrongly judged according to law, which accounted for 0.34
percent of the annual total of court decisions in effect.
The trial system with Chinese characteristics has been further improved.
Courts at all levels have further carried out the principle of open trial,
striving to realize openness in filing for investigation, court hearing,
conclusion of trial, and judgment documents and process of enforcement in the
hope to promote justice with openness. Observance of trials by the general
public has been facilitated with bulletins before trials and simplified
procedures for attending trials. Over 50 million citizens observed trials in
2004.
The lawyer system has been continuously improved. In
2004, the Supreme People's Procuratorate formulated the "Regulations of People's
Procuratorates to Ensure the Lawful Practice of Lawyers in Criminal Procedures,"
and the Ministry of Justice promulgated the "Provisional Regulations on Lawyers'
Visits to Criminals in Custody." Relevant authorities in various places also
promulgated many regulatory documents to guarantee lawyers' rights in practice,
all of which further ensured that lawyers practice in accordance with the law.
Statistics show that up to June 2004 there were 114,500 lawyers in practice and
11,691 law firms in China.
The legal aid system has been further improved. The Supreme People's Court
adopted the "Decision on Providing Judicial Aid to Litigants with Real Financial
Difficulties," improving the system of judicial aid. Payment of lawsuit fees
have been reduced, exempted or allowed to be delayed, so that the litigants with
real financial difficulties in civil and administrative cases, especially senior
citizens, women, minors, disabled people, laid-off workers, migrant workers from
rural areas, as well as victims of traffic, medical and industrial accidents,
can afford to seek justice from the courts. In 2004, the courts throughout the
country provided judicial aid in 263,860 cases, an increase of 15.6 percent from
the previous year. The judicial aid totaled 1.09 billion yuan, 3.1 percent more
than in the previous year. Lawsuit fees have been reduced or exempted for cases
involving child-support payment, spouse-support payment and parent-support
payment, and lawsuits brought by households in rural areas enjoying the "five
guarantees" (food, clothing, medical care, housing and burial expenses - ed.)
and by people in urban areas being provided with the minimum living guarantee.
The issuance of the "Urgent Notice on Clearing Up Cases Concerning Delayed
Payment for Construction Projects and Wages of Migrant Workers," in particular,
provided judicial aid to migrant workers from rural areas in cases of labor
disputes. As a result, 163,151 cases concerning demands for payment were
concluded with high proficiency in filing for investigation, trial and
enforcement. In 2004, governments at all levels throughout the country
appropriated 217 million yuan in total for legal aid, 43 percent more than in
the previous year. Throughout China, 3,023 legal aid organizations were set up,
249 more than in the previous year; and during the year, 190,187 legal aid cases
were handled, 23,754 more than in the previous year, extending aid to 294,138
litigants. People from all walks of life also actively participated in legal aid
work. The All-China Women's Federation and local women's federations have
officially opened 2,700 legal aid centers for women and agencies for protection
of women's rights. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions and local trade
unions have established 2,990 legal aid organizations for workers. The China
Disabled Persons' Federation and local disabled persons' federations have signed
cooperation agreements with over 3,000 law firms for legal aid in cases
concerning the protection of disabled people's rights. Over 30 institutions of
higher learning, including Peking University, Tsinghua University and Wuhan
University, have provided legal aid services to people with difficulties by
combining legal aid and clinical legal education.
The legal rights and interests of people in custody are protected by law. In
2004, the Ministry of Public Security and the Supreme People's Procuratorate
jointly planned, organized and launched a drive to build "model units for
strengthening the enforcement of surveillance and legal supervision, and for
guaranteeing smooth criminal proceedings and the legal rights and interests of
detainees" in all the detention houses throughout China. Consequently, a large
number of model detention houses have emerged with advanced facilities, standard
law enforcement and humane management. The system of meeting public procurators
has been generally established in detention houses, supervision over food,
health care and epidemic prevention for detainees has been strengthened, the
detainees' physical health and protection of their property has been accorded
with greater attention, and the system of informing detainees of their rights,
the system of open procuratorial work and visit system have been improved, thus
effectively protecting detainees' legal rights and interests. By the end of
2004, the Chinese procuratorial organs had set up 77 sub-procuratorates in large
prisons or areas where prisons and reeducation-through-labor camps are
concentrated, and over 3,700 procuratorial offices in medium-sized and small
prisons, reeducation-through-labor camps and detention houses. Procurators have
been dispatched to over 90 percent of China's prisons, detention houses and
reeducation-through-labor camps. The supervision system is being improved step
by step.
