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State Organs |
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Supreme People's Court |
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| People's
courts form the judicial organs in China. The state sets up the Supreme
People's Court, local people's courts at all levels, and military and
other special courts. The Supreme People's Court is the highest judicial organ of the country. It is responsible to the NPC and its Standing Committee, and reports its work to them. The Supreme People's Court independently exercises the highest judicial power according to law and is not subject to interference by any administrative organ, social organization or individual. According to the Constitution and statutes, the Supreme People's Court has three responsibilities: -- Handling cases that have the greatest influence, cases of appeals against judgments and rulings of higher courts and cases it deems it should deal with; -- Supervising the administration of justice by local people's courts and military and other special courts at all levels, overruling wrong judgments they have made, and deciding to review the cases itself or to direct the lower-level courts to conduct a retrial; and -- Giving judicial interpretation of questions concerning special applications of laws in judicial proceedings, which must be carried out throughout the country. Work of the Supreme People's Court On March 9, 2005, President Xiao Yang reported the work of the Supreme People's Court to the Third Session of the 10th NPC. In 2004, the Supreme People's Court concluded a total of 2,923 cases of second instance, review of death sentences by lower-level courts, retrial and enforcement. Of all, there were 400 cases of second instance and review of death sentences by lower-level courts that involve crimes of endangering national security, currency counterfeiting, smuggling, financial fraudulence, issuance of false value-added tax invoices to help others dodge taxes, drug-related crimes, and embezzlement of public funds and bribery. It also ruled on 611 appeals on civil cases concerning lending contract, real estate dispute, securities, bills, construction contract, and rights and interests of shareholders, involving 15.31 billion yuan; settled 78 cases of intellectual property rights, an increase of 16.4 percent; and closed 106 administrative cases and cases of state compensation. Through the year, the court also handled 147,665 cases of petition, up 23.6 percent year on year. It directly investigated 1,542 cases of them. The court issued 21 legal interpretations in 2004, concerning the handling of cases of intellectual property rights, Internet porn, demolition of public telecommunications infrastructures, destruction of forestry resources, as well as dispute over engineering and technological contracts. The Supreme People's Court supported and respected the independent and fair trial of cases by local courts at various levels, while enhanced supervision and guidance of their work. In a year, local courts handed down verdicts to a total of 7,873,745 cases of various kinds. In the cases concluded by local courts at various levels, 1,334,792 cases were settled through mediation, making up 31 percent of the total. The percentage exceeded 70 in many local courts. Through the year, grassroots courts throughout the country, in conjunction with relevant departments, intensified training to people's mediators, with attendance of relevant courses reaching 5.14 million. Courts at various levels paid great attention to fair justice. In the year, they acquitted a total of 2,996 people who could not be proven guilty in cases of private and public prosecution. They also appointed counsels to 91,296 defendants who were qualified for legal assistance, effectively guarding their procedural rights according to law. The courts seriously carried out the systems of weekly reporting and of public supervision of clearance of cases of extended detention, correcting 873 cases of extended detention through the year, involving 2,432 people. By December 31, 2004, all cases of illegal extended detention were cleared. In 2004, the courts applied legal aid to 263,860 cases, with total litigation fees reduced, deferred and exempted reaching 1.09 billion yuan. The figures rose 15.6 percent and 3.1 percent year on year, respectively. In all the cases of claiming support for children or elders, as well as those brought by rural residents living on government subsidies and urban residents receiving subsistence allowances, the litigation fees were exempted. |
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