A senior Chinese judge on Sunday vowed to bring to justice patients or their relatives whose assaults against doctors have constituted crimes.

Cheng Xinwen, of the Supreme People's Court (SPC), made the remarks during an online interview with Internet users held by the SPC website.

Cheng pledged fair court judgments to ease doctor-patient tensions and encourage rational and legitimate protection of rights on the patients' side.

The comments came after a series of attacks on doctors in China in recent years, including a case earlier this month where a young doctor in the southern city of Chaozhou was mobbed by dozens of people following the death of a patient.

Chinese courts are receiving an increasing number of lawsuits regarding patient-doctor disputes and in some cases, the patients or their family members have resorted to extreme measures to express their grievances, Cheng said.

The courts will hold those who have seriously impinged on doctors' rights to life, health and personality liable in accordance with the law, according to the judge.