Judges will be held responsible if they or judicial staff accept bribes, forge, cover up or destroy evidence, or unscrupulously grant parole or commutation during trials, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said on Monday.
Several national authorities jointly issued a rule on Sunday designed to ensure that lawyers are not impeded in their practices. It also prohibits public statements designed to manipulate public opinion or pressure law enforcement.
The apology made by the Anhui provincial high people's court to 19 people who were wrongly convicted for fraudulent fundraising shows it is seeking to correct its past wrong rulings. But a set of fair and equitable judicial procedures is needed to prevent such judicial mistakes.
The first online pre-litigation mediation platform in Shanghai was put into use by a district court on Tuesday, partly in response to a rising number of civil cases involving a foreign party.
