China's top court stresses transparent trial process

BEIJING - The trial process of major cases should be made public online to improve judicial transparency, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said Friday.

Trial processes of criminal, civil, and administrative cases and cases relating to national compensation should be open to parties in a lawsuit and their legal representatives, agent ad litem and defenders, according to a regulation issued by the SPC.

However, procedures concerning state secrets are not allowed to be made public, it said.

The information will be available at the China Judicial Process Information Online website, it said.

The regulation will go into effect on Sept 1 this year.

In a separate development, the SPC said courts across the country concluded more than 6.74 million cases in 2017, jumping 32.82 percent from the previous year.