Academic defends China's human rights record with judicial achievements (1)

A Chinese expert has challenged the findings of a Human Rights Watch report on China, saying the country had "given it its best shot" in promoting human rights progress through judicial reform.

Meng Qingtao of Southwest University of Political Science & Law, in the southwest municipality of Chongqing, said "World Report 2015", which was published by Human Rights Watch on Jan. 29, was a "solo dance" by the "opinionated" institution.

In an article entitled "Just Run of Judicial Reform and Human Rights Protection" published on Monday, Meng summed up China's human right achievements in 2014.

The following is the full text of the article:

Human Rights Watch, which poses as a "human rights guardian", continued its accusations against China's human rights situation in its "World Report 2015". One thing that is for sure is that the report has methodological flaws -- the real human rights situation in a country cannot only be a one-sided story from a single voice. If the real feelings of the people in the country involved were neglected, people will only see the solo dance by the opinionated Human Rights Watch.

As a scholar in law, I believe that if you review the pulsations of the country's judicial reform in 2014, China has given the promotion of human rights its best shot. The Chinese people witnessed the righting of several miscarriages of justice last year.

On Aug. 22, Nian Bin was acquitted by the higher people's court in the eastern province of Fujian, eight years after being wrongly imprisoned for murder. It meant curtains for the case after ten trials, four guilty verdicts, three overturns of judgments and six adjourned hearing orders by the Supreme People's Court (SPC). The correction was achieved by strict abidance by the criminal judicial principle of "innocent until proved guilty."

On Dec. 15, Huugjilt, who was sentenced to death and executed in a controversial 1996 rape and murder case, was acquitted of his crimes 18 years later by the higher people's court of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. His parents were awarded state compensation totaling more than 2 million yuan (about 319,946 U.S. dollars) according to a verdict by the regional court on Dec. 30.

In December, the SPC assigned Shandong Higher People's Court to the review of a rape and murder case 19 years after the convict, Nie Shubin, was executed, as another man confessed to the crime.

As American moral philosophy expert John Rawls said: "Justice must not only be done, but be seen to be done." These cases demonstrate the positive legal inertia that allows judicial organs to correct their mistakes in accordance with legal procedures. They embody the spirit of rule of law, which aims to "let the people to feel fairness and justice in each case".

The year 2014 was a milestone in China's human rights development. Protecting human rights through rule of law saw marked progresses last year amid the country's overall reform drive. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, held in October, was a landmark for these changes. It was the first time a plenary session of the CPC Central Committee had taken rule of law as its central theme. A decision from the CPC Central Committee on "major issues concerning comprehensively advancing rule of law" adopted by the meeting served as the top-level design and strategic deployment for expediting the building of the socialist legal system.

In addition, a series of reform measures are already in place. In 2014, moves were taken to standardize sentencing and to install a case instruction system in all courts, to safeguard related parties' rights and interests through nationwide standards of discretion, justice, balanced sentencing and transparency.

More than 3,300 courts at various levels were linked up to the SPC's video system to receive petitions, which facilitated termination of lawsuit-related petitions. Judicial organs also introduced measures to enhance institutional protection of related party's rights to be informed, make statements, defend and appeal in criminal cases, while adhering to the principles such as "innocent until proved guilty" and the exclusionary rules of illegal evidence.

Moreover, to safeguard rights of minors and the public, judicial organs launched campaigns to crack down on criminal conduct such as sexual abuse of minors; seeking illegal gains by fabricating or spreading rumors online; endangering food or drug security; environmental pollution; accepting bribes; and dereliction of duty.

In 2014, Chinese courts made judgment papers accessible online so the public could supervise. The courts also enhanced enforcement of verdicts by blacklisting those who refused to exercise judgments. Prosecuting organs have introduced online platform for handling cases and law enforcement, and stepped up supervision on cases of commutation of sentences, parole or medical bail. Moreover, prosecuting organs initiated a half-year international manhunt for economic criminal suspects last year. (mo