国内英语新闻:Senior CPC official stresses just, lawful handling of legal cases

BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese leader Zhou Yongkang on Thursday urged the country's law-enforcement officers to strive for just and lawful handling of every legal case.

"We must always make efforts to optimize the criminal justice system and improve law-enforcement so each legal case is dealt with in accordance with the law," said Zhou, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), at a meeting in Beijing.

Zhou, who also heads the CPC Central Political and Legislative Affairs Committee, said there is still wrongful handling of legal cases which infringe upon the rights of the concerned parties and undermine the credibility of the judicial system.

He called on the officials at the meeting of the Central Political and Legislative Affairs Committee to treat every legal case meticulously.

In particular, he said, law-enforcement officers must apply the utmost stringent of standards when handling cases involving the death penalty.