Chinese courts correct wrong judgements in 16,967 cases in 2004, says a white paper on Building of Political Democracy in China, issued by the Information Office of the State Council on Wednesday.

The white paper said in 2004, Chinese courts at various levels nationwide closed 644,248 criminal cases of first instance, 4,303,744 civil cases of first instance and 92,192 administrative cases.

The white paper said as the judicial organs of the state, the people's courts take judicial justice as the aim, reform and complete the trial system in line with the principle of independence in trial, and punish criminals and protect the people through trials: they practice the system of defense in criminal trials, attach importance to evidence, not give credence to confessions and see to it that the rights of accused are protected.

In civil trials, they pay attention to protecting the rights of the litigants and provide judicial guarantees for citizens to exercise their democratic rights and for litigants to enjoy their civil rights.

In administrative trials, they protect citizens' legitimate rights from infringement by illegal conduct of administrative organs.

The white paper said in recent years, the people's courts have been constantly improving litigation procedures to protect legal rights and interests of citizens and legal persons, and truly solve the issue of difficulty in enforcement.

China has established the Supreme People's Court and people's courts at various local levels, as well as the military courts and other special people's courts. By the end of 2004, there were 3,548 people's courts at various levels and special people's courts, with a total of 190,627 judges.

The white paper said in recent years, the Supreme People's Court requires courts at all levels to try cases openly and in strict accordance with the law, in open courts and with evidence openly submitted, question the witness openly, and announce all judgments openly. The people's courts at various levels have further reinforced the system of open trial.

Except for cases which should be tried in camera, as specified by law, they now hear all cases in public. Notice of cases to be tried in public shall be announced in advance to open the entire process to the auditing of ordinary citizens and the press. The people's courts also, on their own initiative, invite deputies to the people's congresses and members of CPPCC organizations to audit open trials so that the NPC deputies can supervise and the CPPCC members can inspect judicial activities.

Source: Xinhua