Prosecutions up but legal problems still a worry

Efforts to fight corruption have not led to marked
improvements in China's justice system, top judicial
authorities said. Chinese courts handled 23,733 cases of official corruption
last year, the South China Morning Post reported, a number similar to the
previous two years. Nine ministerial-level officials were convicted, according
to reports by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's
Procuratorate. Despite the numbers, "judicial injustice and law enforcement
problems…have not been effectively scrutinized and addressed,
Procurator-General Jia Chunwang told delegates to the National People's
Congress Tuesday. NPC deputies were not impressed and some said judicial
problems are not new and there is much to do to solve them.