Chief judge Xiao Yang said the work emphasis of the people's
court this year will focus on retaining judicial fairness and
improving efficiency to maintain social stability and encourage
economic advancement.
Xiao, president
of the Supreme People's Court, made the remarks on Saturday
in the work report delivered at the plenary meeting of the
Fourth Session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC).
"(We will)
provide a strong judicial guarantee and an excellent legal
service to ensure the smooth implementation of the 10th Five-Year
Plan (2001-05)," said Xiao.
He promised that
the people's court would take various actions to maintain
market order, ensure financial safety and protect intellectual
property rights.
The court will
also protect the legitimate rights of Chinese and foreign
investors making investments in western China so as to create
favorable conditions for the country's western development
strategy, according to Xiao.
He also vowed to
make "judicial preparations" for China's upcoming
accession to the World Trade Organization.
The court will
seriously punish economic crimes such as smuggling, export
tax rebate fraud, the making and marketing of fake commodities
and financial fraudulence, said Xiao.
He disclosed that
the Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court is now investigating
and handling the case of former Vice-Minister of Public Security
Li Jizhou, who is accused of taking bribes.
The people's court
will also come down hard on crimes endangering state security,
sabotaging state power and hindering the reunification of
the country, said Xiao, citing organized crime, drug-related
crime and forced prostitution as examples.
Falun Gong die-hards
will also be punished according to the law and those who repent
can expect to be treated leniently.
Xiao said that
crimes endangering information exchange and Internet safety
will also be punished heavily.
According to Xiao's
report, the supreme court last year handled a total of 4,288
second-instance cases, death penalty reviews and sentencing
supervision cases and concluded 4,832 cases, including those
left over from the previous year.
Meanwhile, local
courts handled 5.35 million and concluded 5.38 million cases,
including those handed down from the previous year.
Over the past year,
courts have punished more than 640,000 criminals throughout
the country and concluded 847 smuggling cases, up by 6.21
percent and 122 percent respectively over the previous year.
Chinese courts
are stepping up efforts to strengthen judicial discipline
and increase judicial guarantees on human rights, Xiao stressed.
In the last year,
a total of 6,617 people received verdicts of not guilty, including
2,591 who were declared innocent because of unclear facts
and insufficient evidence, and 4,026 who had been found not
to have violated the law.
(China Daily 03/12/2001)
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