CRI听力:China Says No to Officials' Judicial Meddling

Under the new rules, judicial personnel will have to keep detailed records of officials to meet with them to discuss judicial cases, regardless of who is involved.

Judges, prosecutors and police officers will also be blacklisted and punished if caught illegally intervening in investigations or court cases.

The 13 new articles have been jointly-published by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council.

Under the new provisions, officials will be sanctioned if they're found to be interceding on behalf of litigants, asking personnel handling cases to meet with the litigants or their defense teams privately, or make suggestions or directions on how the cases should be handled.

The rules are part of a broader legal reform package authorities began putting in-place in October.

Jiang Huiling is a senior judge with the Supreme People's Court.

"It is a regulation to supervise officials and make them respect the judicial system and the legal process. It warns them not to put their hands into areas they're not supposed to be, which could hamper the fairness of the judicial system."

Officials meddling in judicial cases has been a long-standing problem in China, with the interference often linked with nepotism and bribery.

The new rules are expected to be more effective in stopping the interference, as they lay out more clear definitions and responsibilities.

The regulations will hold three different authorities accountable, namely judicial organizations, the CPC's political and legal affairs commission and the CPC's commission for discipline inspections.

Xiong Qiuhong is a jurist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"It is a balanced mechanism to ensure the judicial personnel's work. On the one hand, it stipulates that the judicial personnel are protected by the law and the Party. That helps to expel the personnel's fear of suffering from retaliation from the investigated officials. On the other hand, the judicial personnel will be punished if they fail to record faithfully because of personal reasons."

Officials will also face party discipline or even criminal charges if they threaten or try to carry out retribution for court cases after-the-fact.

For CRI, I'm Qizhi.