The following are the main facts and figures about China's
justice system in 2006 revealed in a work report delivered on
Tuesday by Xiao Yang, president of the Supreme People's Court, to
the Fifth Session of the Tenth National People's Congress, China's
top legislature:
-- A total of 3,668 cases involving a variety of crime were
handled by the supreme court in 2006, up 14.77 percent over the
previous year.
-- Local courts at all levels heard and concluded 8,105,007
cases in 2006, up 2.07 percent over 2005, including 798,572
criminal cases, or 9.85 percent of the total; 4,831,043 civil
cases, or 59.61 percent; and 125,976 administrative cases, or 1.55
percent.
-- The local courts in 2006 made first-instance trials on 701,
379 criminal cases and sentenced 889,042 convicted criminals.
-- Courts across the country in 2006 tried and concluded 245,
254 criminal cases involving felonies like explosion, murder,
robbery, rape and kidnapping, and sentenced 340,715 criminals
convicted in such cases.
-- Courts across the country heard 23,733 cases of embezzlement,
bribery and dereliction of duty in 2006, sentencing 825 convicted
government officials above the county level, including 9
provincial- and ministerial-level officials.
-- Courts across the country in 2006 tried and concluded 31,582
cases involving the manufacture, trafficking and sale of narcotics,
while sentencing 37,256 convicted criminals.
-- Courts in 2006 heard and concluded 17,769 cases of
intellectual property rights infringement, including 2,277 criminal
cases in which 3,508 people were convicted and sentenced, and
14,056 civil cases and 1,436 administrative cases.
-- Among all criminals convicted in China in 2006, 153,724
received sentences from five years or longer in prison up to life
imprisonment and death penalty.
-- Chinese courts at various levels in 2006 pronounced 1,713
criminal defendants innocent, following the principle of meting out
penalty to the guilty and setting the innocent free in time in
accordance with the law.
-- Courts at all levels in 2006 heard and concluded 23,313 cases
involving foreign nationals and residents of Hong Kong, Macao and
Taiwan, up 16.39 percent year on year.
-- The supreme court received 140,511 letters, visits and calls
of complaints and petitions in 2006, a drop of 4.71 percent year on
year, while local courts across the country received 3,548,504 such
letters, visits and calls, a decrease of 11.18 percent.
-- In 2006, 292 judges were found to have abused power for
personal interests, and 109 of them were given criminal penalty
according to law.
-- The supreme court took back the power to review and ratify
all death penalty cases as of Jan. 1, 2007, ending a 26-year
practice of letting courts at lower levels decide on part of such
cases.
(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2007)