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SCMP Reporter

THE live television broadcast of Guangzhou's 'two guns, one axe' robbery and manslaughter trial has sparked debate over whether the mainland should make all trials open to the public.

 Beijing Youth Daily said Beijing High Court officials were unsure whether they should open their court rooms to television cameras.

 In July, the broadcast of a case involving a gang of 16, which was accused of breaking and entering 60 homes and killing three people with guns and an axe, gripped the province of Guangzhou. However, Beijing Supreme Court chief Zhang Jialin told the newspaper that a verdict on allowing television cameras in court rooms had not been reached.

 'For reasons of public security and prudence there are some matters that should be dealt with in closed quarters. But the case trial stage should be open. This is a stipulation of the law,' Mr Zhang said.

 Only cases involving matters of personal privacy, minors or state and commercial secrets can be conducted in closed sessions.

 Last year, a Beijing television station started screening pre-recorded trials, but live broadcasts, tried elsewhere on the mainland, were still considered 'too difficult'.

 Beijing Youth Daily said that even if live broadcasts were permitted, they would be strictly controlled.

 The courts would use only selected reporters, judges and lawyers for trials on television.

 'The courts will ensure they have the final say on all matters relating to the broadcast of trials,' said an official quoted by the newspaper.

 Other officials are pushing to throw open the doors wider to public scrutiny, saying it will help raise the quality of trials and restrain the behaviour of judges, lawyers and public prosecutors.

 The newspaper quoted senior legal sources as saying that open trials were an essential but unobtrusive part of the judicial process.

 'The hearing goes on in the open, but the decisions are still made in private,' a source said.

 However, court officials fear that the presence of television cameras is making judges nervous and witnesses so uncomfortable that they are reluctant to take the stand, while other participants put on performances.



Top officials wary of exposing all trials to television cameras