Beijing-based Legal Daily published a commentary this Tuesday, November 17, on recent developments in overseeing interference in judicial systems. According to a press release that the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs (CPLA) of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee issued in early November, five officials and judicial personnel have been removed from their posts or given sanctions.
This was the first time that the new regulations have been enforced since March 2015, when the Central Committee General Office and the General Office of the State Council published the "Provisions on Recording, Reporting, and Pursuing the Responsibility of Leading Cadres for Interfering with Judicial Activities or Tampering with the Handling of Specific Cases."
The Legal Daily commentary observed that the five officials publicly named were all from lower levels. The one in Shanghai was just a staff member in the Pudong New District Procuratorate who did not have the power to influence the handling of cases.
Based on past experience, the mentality and behavior of top officials and those who work within the judicial organs have a significant impact on the legal environment. To check such interference early and across lower levels is an important step.
The publication of the Provisions in March, the subsequent implementation plans detailed by the People’s Supreme Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and the recent naming of officials by the CPLA have sent a clear message to society that prohibiting interference in the handling of legal cases is being put into practice.
Of course, we must also realize that to establish the system to prevent tampering with any specific cases takes strict enforcement over time. Fundamentally it is to restrain power, leading toward the public and society being able to exert comprehensive supervision.
Source: Legal Daily, November 17, 2015
http://epaper.legaldaily.com.cn/fzrb/content/20151117/Articel07004GN.htm