China Daily:

Could you share what major efforts the judicial organs have made in protecting human rights? Thank you.

Li Xiao:

Thanks for your question. As a bottom line for defending fairness and justice, the administration of justice indeed plays an important role in protecting human rights. After working in the court system for 37 years, I am well aware that respect for and protection of human rights is one of the main lines that run through the work of the people's courts. With the aim that the people can see in every judicial case that justice is served, judicial bodies adhere to carrying out justice for the people, seeking judicial justice, and protecting the lawful rights and interests of the interested parties according to law so as to increase the people's sense of gain, happiness and security. I'd like to share with you some highlights of our efforts in the following keywords, namely, judicial reform, judicial accountability, the case-filing register system, the safeguarding of the right to defense, judicial openness, guaranteeing the right to fair trial, and judicial relief. As you know, judicial bodies have been carrying out judicial reform in recent years. Why? Its ultimate goals are to ensure the people's courts independently and fairly exercise judicial power according to the law; improve the allocation of judicial powers and responsibilities; and improve category-based management of judicial personnel and job security for the judicial profession. People's courts across administrative boundaries have been established. In some provinces and cities, there are also courts that handle intellectual property and financial cases as well as online courts. This is a brief summary of judicial reform.

Regarding fully implementing judicial accountability, we have improved the list of well-defined adjudicative powers and responsibilities, strictly held illegal adjudication accountable, and fully implemented the three regulations on preventing intervention in judicial activities, by which the judges hear the cases to reach verdicts and bear related responsibilities.

Regarding the case-filing register system, it is a replacement for the former case-filing review system and was established in 2015. It ensures litigants' right of action and has solved the difficulties in filing lawsuits, with an on-the-spot case-filing registration rate of more than 95%. As you know, science and technology have made rapid progress in recent years, which has accelerated the establishment of smart courts. Now filing is much easier. A click on WeChat Court, a mini program of WeChat, enables litigants to file cases online, submit evidence, and attend trials as well as deal with some cross-region litigations, making litigation services available online round the clock.

Another noteworthy highlight is the promotion of judicial openness. We have improved judicial transparency by establishing four platforms for releasing information on judicial processes, trial livestreams, written judgments, and the execution of judgments. I checked these platforms this morning. A total of more than 13 million trials nationwide have been livestreamed on the platform for trial livestreams, with 38 billion visits in total. There are more than 100 million written judgements at the platform for written judgements, with over 64.6 billion visits by this morning. The data keeps updated and changing all the time.

With regards to the guaranteeing of the right to defense, pilot work has been launched to ensure legal defense is provided in all criminal cases. Legal aid stations can now be found at all courts and detention houses to ensure that defendants in all criminal cases can obtain legal defense and support in trial. The state protects defense lawyers' rights to meet their clients, to read case files, to investigate and obtain evidence, to conduct cross-examination, and to debate and defend, and other litigious rights.

Regarding the guaranteeing of the right to fair trial, we have made significant efforts. For example, we have promoted the reform of the criminal litigation system with a focus on adjudication, strictly enforced the principles of "no penalty without a law", presumption of innocence, evidence-based verdicts, and exclusionary rules, and strengthened the role of court trials, ensuring that no one should be prosecuted without criminal evidence and those guilty of an offence are subject to fair punishment. From 2016 to 2020, people's courts at all levels acquitted 5,479 defendants. A number of wrongful verdicts including those concerning Hugjiltu for rape and murder and Nie Shubin for rape and murder were overturned in accordance with the law. The wrongly-convicted all received state compensation in accordance with the law.

Another keyword is judicial relief. It covers the state compensation system and the state judicial assistance system. We have improved the state compensational system and developed compensation alongside the economic and social development of the country. The daily compensation for violation of a citizen's personal liberty has risen from 17.16 yuan in 1995 to 373.10 yuan in 2021. China has improved the state judicial assistance system to safeguard victims' right to judicial assistance. In 2020, courts at all levels handled a total of 37,852 judicial assistance cases, helping 44,350 people with 910 million yuan of judicial relief. In addition, we have made many other efforts. As time is limited, I am not going to elaborate on them. Thank you.