Shanghai judges to get moral education after prostitution scandal
In a speech to open the campaign, Cui Yadong, party chief and acting president of the Shanghai People's Higher Court, said the scandal had not only tarnished the image of the city but had given "domestic and foreign hostile forces" a chance to attack the Communist Party and the country's judiciary.
Shanghai's leading judicial official has launched a six-month moral education campaign after four judges were caught on video cavorting with prostitutes at a nightclub.
In a speech to open the campaign, Cui Yadong, party chief and acting president of the Shanghai People's Higher Court, said the scandal had not only tarnished the image of the city but had given "domestic and foreign hostile forces" a chance to attack the Communist Party and the country's judiciary.
"The party has launched this education campaign because [the scandal] has severely harmed the … the country's legal foundations, while providing an opportunity for domestic and foreign hostile forces to attack the party, the [Chinese] government, and the socialist judicial system," Cui was quoted as saying by the China News Service.
Professor Hu Xingdou a political commentator at the Beijing Institute of Technology, said Cui's speech aimed to deflect criticism from Shanghai's judiciary.
"It is a ridiculous speech. The scandal is a product of Shanghai's corrupt judiciary, not the so-called 'domestic and foreign hostile forces'," Hu said.
"The speech indicates that the leading figures of Shanghai's judiciary want to shift the focus to 'hostile forces' because they are want to escape accountability as public criticism mounts."