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| China's Supreme People's Court has announced plans for a series of legal reforms. Image: Shutterstock |
China’s Supreme People’s Court announced last Thursday that
it will star ton a five-year comprehensive legal reform plan to make courts in
China more impartial, fair, independent, and accountable.
The reforms are being made with five goals: Streamlining political organization, respecting the law, promoting reforms while ensuring safety and order, promoting progress, and encouraging the development of the legal system
The target completion date is 2018.
The announcement comes on the heels of continued human
rights concerns in China. These include
the imprisonment of writer Huang Zerong for publishing anti-Communist
propaganda, the boycott of the legal defense team representing activist Guo
Feixiong, and the denial of bail for human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who was
originally detained for calling for an investigation into the 1989 crackdown on
protests in Tiananmen Square.
In fact, despite the legal system’s professed interest in
more transparency, President Xi Jinping’s administration has shown no interest
in political change, continuing to detain dozens of dissidents, including
lawyers.
The Supreme People’s Court stressed that an important
element of the legal reforms will be to ensure “the correct political orientation,”
reflecting concerns about continued civil unrest in the country.
However, the reforms do include doing away with requiring
criminal defendants to wear vests and jumpsuits, which they hope will stem the
traditional presumption of guilt in court trials. The reforms will also allow for a performance
evaluation for judges and will establish media galleries in courtrooms.
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