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Court Verdicts to Be Made Available on Internet
As part of ongoing efforts to improve the judicial system, verdicts delivered by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) will be made available to the public on the Internet.
SPC spokesman Liu Huisheng yesterday said the SPC had already posted the verdicts in six cases - four civil, one criminal and one administrative cases - on its website (www.court.gov.cn) and on the People's Court Daily site (www.rmfyb.com).
Verdicts in these cases are also available to the public in a special SPC reading room open to the public.
Liu said the SPC will continue to publish cases of interest to the general public in major media nationwide as they have in the past.
"All in all, the Internet will soon be our main channel to publicize court verdicts," said Liu.
The SPC will also regularly publish compiled versions of the verdicts, Liu added.
In addition to most court proceedings being opened to the public in 1998, publishing verdicts is another way for the SPC to ensure judicial fairness.
"The publication of verdicts is important to making our work more transparent ... and is necessary to improving the quality of the judicial system," said Liu. But for now, cases that threaten the privacy of the concerned parties, particularly women and minors, will not be made public.
"Our ultimate goal is to make all legal documents available to the public," said Liu. "I am confident that the reform will improve the quality of verdicts."
Court verdicts will now be released weekly.
Pioneered by the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, a number of local courts have already adopted the practice.
The practice has been well-received particularly by legal experts, who say access to such documents have made their research easier.
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