China's courts will take a series measures such as to supervise judges or officials by establishing a data bank on them, in a bid to ensure fairness of justice, Xiao Yang, president of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said in Beijing Wednesday.

Xiao made the remarks at a meeting to propel courts' fairness campaign launched by the SPC, saying that the key way to realize China's judicial justice is to improve local court management.

"Local courts have the most frequent contacts with the masses, who are likely to judge the courts as a whole based on what they experience," Xiao said.

To facilitate the campaign, the SPC has issued dozens of measures such as to improve the local courts' transparency, to raise judicial efficiency by simplifying the hearing process and to set up a data bank on officials and judges, and thus to maintain the country's judicial authority.

The data bank includes 11 items like the official's or judge's housing, their spouse's or children's professions as well as the business operations they are involved in, their income and even tip-offs from the masses as a way to offer an authentic source for the discipline inspection branch to keep an eye on them.

"The SPC handled over 3,500 cases in 2003 and courts at all levels handled altogether more than 8 million cases, most of which were fairly and timely processed," Xiao said.

"However, a small number of cases were handled wrongly due to reasons ranging from bad judgments, taking bribes, sexual seduction or power infatuation," Xiao said. "Small in number as they are, they still heavily influenced people's impression of China's courts."

The top judge pledged intensified efforts to strengthen China’s judicial ranks and carry out activities to foster fairness of justice.

(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2004)