China pursues internet integration with judicial activities

Beijing, Mar 15 (EFE).- The Information Office of China’s government published Thursday a white paper on the governance of cyberspace in which it exposes the advances and challenges of the application of Internet technology in the judicial field.

The white paper says China has been exploring “new channels, domains and models” to take advantage of Internet technology in judicial activities, such as court proceedings, enforcement of judgments and judicial administration, according to state news agency Xinhua.

It also said China has promoted the use of the latest technologies such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and blockchain to improve the quality and efficiency of judicial activities.

According to the document, local courts have autonomy to adapt their judicial mechanisms to regional characteristics and the specific needs of local cyber disputes.

China has also systematically integrated a wide range of information on cases and has developed models and platforms to legally monitor individual proceedings and the like with the help of big data.

The white paper mentions the courts established in Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou as examples of new judicial models focused on 11 types of Internet-related disputes.

The judiciary, which does not operate independently of the executive or legislative branches, has a defendant conviction rate of about 99 percent, according to 2013 data from the China Law Yearbook.

Organizations such as Amnesty International say torture continues to be part of the police routine to extract forced confessions in China, a country with a high percentage of convictions and the highest number of executions in the world. EFE

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