China sacks top judicial official

By Willy Wo-Lap Lam
CNN Senior China Analyst

HONG KONG, China -- The top judicial official in Shenyang, the capital of China's northeast Liaoning Province, has been sacked in what is hailed as an instance of people's power with Chinese characteristics.

The semi-official China News Service reported that the Liaoning People's Congress had approved the dismissal of the president of the Shenyang court, Jia Yongxiang.

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An aide to a Shenyang legislator said the sacking had taken place because the local court had lost the confidence of the Shenyang People's Congress.

In a rare demonstration of parliamentary power, the Shenyang congress last month refused to endorse the annual work report of the Shenyang court.

The decision of the Shenyang congress was unprecedented because it had been a long-standing practice for people's congresses of both national and local levels to endorse the reports compiled by the courts.

The legislative aide said the municipal people's congress had cast a vote of no confidence in the court because of the widespread perception that the judicial as well as police personnel were ineffective in curbing law-and-order problems in the city.

In the past year or so, Shenyang has been rocked by a series of corruption and other crimes.

Last December, the flamboyant mayor of the city, Mu Suixin, resigned after a spate of corruption, gambling and kidnapping scandals in which a number of senior municipal cadres and their spouses were allegedly involved.

Reports in provincial papers have also indicated that Shenyang is a hotbed of underground criminal activities.

The Shenyang Daily reported on Thursday that there would be a thorough shakeup of the leadership of the Shenyang judiciary.

The head of the municipal Personnel Bureau Ding Renshu, has been appointed acting president of the court.

Two other cadres, including An Jinrong, a vice party secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of the muncipal Communist party committee, have been appointed court vice-presidents.

Reformist leaders including Premier Zhu Rongji have reiterated that Beijing's top priority is to clean up the judicial and police establishment, which is itself tainted with corruption.

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