In 2015, the Supreme People’s Court heard 15,985 cases of which 14,135 were concluded; up 42.6 percent and 43 percent respectively year-on-year.
Regional courts at various levels processed 19.511 million cases, delivering 16.714 million judgments involving 4 trillion yuan ($615.38 billion), up 24.7 percent, 21.1 percent and 54.5 percent respectively from the previous year.
Courts across China closed 1.099 million criminal cases and sentenced 1.232 million guilty parties at the trial level, up 7.5 percent and 4 percent year on year.
They heard 1,084 cases involving charges of undermining national security or committing violent terrorist attacks in which they sentenced 1,419 offenders, and concluded about 34,000 bribery and corruption cases, sentencing 49,000 offenders.
About 139,000 cases related to drug crimes were closed, as were 5,446 cases involving trafficking or sexual abuse of women and children.
The courts concluded 6,221 criminal cases involving using Internet for fraud, provoking trouble, or other charges.
In the commercial area, 3.347 million cases were concluded at the first instance level, an increase of 20.3 percent year on year. Of those, 6,079 involved foreign elements. The courts closed 1.42 million private lending cases involving 820.75 billion yuan. In addition, about 120,000 intellectual property rights cases were closed at the trial level, as were 16,000 cases involving maritime affairs. In total, 6.228 million civil cases including commercial ones were concluded by courts of first instance.
About 19,000 cases regarding environmental pollution and destruction of resources were heard and completed, a year-on-year rise of 18.8 percent, and a further 10,349 cases concerning production and sale of toxic and hazardous food were also concluded.
About 241,000 administrative cases arose, of which 199,000 were concluded, an increase of 59.2 percent and 51.8 percent year on year.
A total of 667 defendants in public prosecutions and 372 defendants in private prosecutions were found innocent, and 1,357 unjust criminal cases were overturned. About 240 million yuan was paid to applicants for state compensation in 5,439 cases. Furthermore, 31,527 prisoners including war veterans, the very old, the young and the infirm were not considered a threat to society and were deemed eligible for amnesty.
All the data were excerpted from the work report issued by the Supreme People’s Court on March 13, 2016.
