Leaders to leave legal proceedings alone

China's Chief Justice Zhou Qiang delivers the work report of the Supreme People's Court (SPC) to the national legislature at the ongoing annual session, which is more steely resolve for judicial reform, on March 12. [Photo/IC]

When judicial independence is emphasized in China as a prerequisite for the carriage of justice in judicial practice, stopping government leaders at all levels from having their finger in the pie of legal proceedings has never been so important.

That explains why the general office of the Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party of China and that of the State Council, the cabinet, jointly released a set of regulations on Monday requiring leaders at all levels to keep their hands off legal proceedings.

The rules require that any leader's interference in a case in whatever form be kept on record for investigation. The regulations also stipulate that any judicial worker who fails to do this will also be investigated and penalized.

Interference from government leaders at various levels has long been known to be a key reason for miscarriages of justice. Some local governments give an opinion on how a particular case should be ruled by sending a document to the local court under their auspices. This has led to the perception that a local leader has the mandate to guide a judge on how to deal with a case.

It is common for local government leaders to ask local court for mercy when their relatives or friends stand trial. And some local leaders will give an order to the local police to crack a case in a given period of time, which has resulted in the torturing of suspects to obtain confessions.

For judges and prosecutors who will be held accountable for life for the cases they investigate and rule on, it is essential to keep records of any interference in a case by officials.

For leaders who try to pull the strings in cases, not only will it be included in their performance evaluations, but they also face the risk of being put behind bars for illegally meddling in the work of the judiciary.

So the importance of keeping records of government leaders' involvement in judicial practice is of the utmost importance to the rule of law.

What is particularly noteworthy is the stipulation that the judicial department will regularly publish such records.

This practice, if it can be applied to the letter, may prove to be the most effective way to make government leaders at all levels keep their hands off legal proceedings as transparency will leave no place for any wrongdoing to hide.