(TibetanReview.net, Oct14, 2014) – China has said it will post judgments by courts in Tibet Autonomous Region too on the internet as a part of its ongoing drive to improve judicial transparency across the country, according to its official China Daily newspaper Oct 13. Chinese courts in Tibetan areas often hold secret trials to convict Tibetan protesters and critics, with their families coming to learn about their fate long after they had been jailed.
Noting that judgments by courts in 17 provinces and municipalities had already been posted on the website of the Supreme Court, Zhou Qiang, the top court’s president, has said: “We promise that more judgments from other areas, including the Tibet autonomous region, will also be disclosed.”
The report said that in an effort to improve judicial transparency, details of 3,281 court spokesmen and spokeswomen, including their names, office addresses and phone numbers, had been placed on the website of the country’s Supreme Court. Of them, 2,784 were from grassroots courts, the report added.
The report quoted Sun Jungong, the court’s spokesman, as saying that improving transparency was a major task “because the more openly we show our work to the public, the more justice residents will receive”.
He has also said: “Since 2013, judicial transparency has been improved at every Chinese court via multimedia platforms such as micro blogs and instant messaging tools. … Out of 2,995 courts, 2,866 have opened micro-blogging accounts.”
The report added that the top court’s Sina Weibo account had attracted more than 150 million followers. The account, it said, was being used to broadcast information about trials, provide analysis of judicial interpretations and give details of individuals who refuse to comply with court findings.