More than 7,000 people improperly detained on the mainland have had their cases 'resolved', thanks to the Supreme People's Court. Even though Xinhua could not say how many were convicted or released, this is good news. Yet the action, which came about after the country's highest court issued instructions to local law-enforcement authorities to clear their backlog of cases, also highlights the state of play in China's sociopolitical evolution. That so many people had been detained beyond the statutory limit suggests that a society based on the rule of law remains an elusive goal for the national leadership.
Certainly, progress has been made in recent years to modernise the nation's legal system. The quality of written legislation has in some areas been brought near the standards of the two special administrative regions. Judges and prosecutors, who were once primarily recruited from the ranks of the military, are increasingly better trained; some at the higher levels have doctoral degrees and are experts in specific fields. Enforcement has been stronger and less partial, too, with younger and more career-minded police officers and prosecutors coming up through the ranks.
The gains have been most marked in commercial law, particularly in the protection of intellectual property rights. Yet even in criminal law, changes have been heartening to see - for instance, the scrapping of regulations allowing migrant workers to be detained randomly by police. Even though it took the death in custody of Sun Zhigang, a graphic designer from Hubei who was arrested in Guangzhou for not carrying his residency permit, to effect that change, such improvements represent progress towards universal protection of the rights of citizens as enshrined in the constitution.
Yet there is still reason to question the latest effort to resolve so many pending cases. First, the number appears small next to previous admissions there were more than 50,000 outstanding cases, according to Hong Kong-based human rights lawyers. Second, even if the number is so small, it seems rather too large to have been able to resolve effectively in such a short space of time.
Nothing can be changed quickly. Yet the new leadership has raised expectations with its focus on the concerns of ordinary people. It can at least be hoped that there are far fewer than 7,000 detainees, awaiting trials that may never come, this time next year.
To address the problem at its root, the mainland should consider introducing measures similar to the common law's habeas corpus rule to allow anyone to seek an order for someone to appear in court so that it can decide whether he should remain in custody. Officials must be stopped from abusing their power to lock anyone up arbitrarily.
