SPC unveils new verdict platform

The first unified online platform for China's courts at all levels to disclose documentation of their verdicts was launched Wednesday, in a bid to enhance judicial transparency and justice.

The platform covers verdicts from over 3,000 courts nationwide. It requires courts to publish documentation of all verdicts, except those related to national security, trade secrets or personal privacy. These will be made accessible to the general public.

Disclosing such information will increase public understanding toward court verdicts and strengthen the public supervision of the judgments, as an effort to avoid miscarriages of justice and boost judicial credibility, Zhou Qiang, president of the People's Supreme Court of China (SPC), said Wednesday at an annual national judicial meeting held in Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

China's courts started to reveal details of their verdicts online since the SPC launched a website to disclose their judgments on July 1.

Thereafter some local courts have also published documentation on their websites.

Sun Jungong, spokesman for the SPC, said that gathering all disclosed verdicts from different courts together will make it more convenient for the public to check information on cases that interest them.

Gong Changming, an official with the People's Higher Court in Gansu province, said Wednesday that disclosing verdict documentation will put pressure on judges.

"More people can be identified by their mistakes, even misspelling words. Such practices will urge judges to improve their professional ability or even weed out unqualified ones," Gong said.

The establishment of the platform is part of the efforts to push the transparency of judicial work in China. Its courts will also launch online platforms for disclosing their trials and the platform could be websites, Weibo, WeChat accounts, mobile phone texts or voice mail.

The disclosure of trial details, which is a new attempt to enhance judicial transparency, will only be accessible to litigants, who can check if the case was filed and when the verdicts will come, the SPC said.

Judicial transparency is crucial to ensure the independence of judicial authorities as well as boost public trust in the judiciary system, Zhou said.

He added that if any judicial information is disclosed late or is inadequate, it would be easy to stir up public disputes or misunderstanding.

However, in some less developed regions in China, the courts might face problems such as lacking techniques and financial support to implement such practices, Gong said.

"Such practices have to be carried out "step by step," he added.

Wang Chen, the head of the Wuhan Intermediate People's Court in Hunan province, said at the Wednesday meeting that litigants who hand in case files to the court would receive a QR code, which will allow them to follow trial procedures with their cellphones.