国内英语新闻:China to conclude nationwide training for grassroots court presidents

BEIJING, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- China is completing a nationwide training for presidents of grassroots courts Friday, following the downfall of a group of judicial officials implicated in corruption scandals.

More than 3,600 presidents from intermediate and grassroots courts across the country attended the training in Beijing, a year-long-event that focused on raising their awareness of corruption-free law enforcement and improving their abilities in handling social disputes, according to information released by the Supreme People's Court (SPC) on Thursday.

More than 80 high-ranking judges, including SPC President Wang Shengjun, delivered lectures during the training, which also covered topics of improving the judges' knowledge in coping with public opinion as well as that of the media.

"Given the complex and volatile international situation and rising domestic demand for judicial services against the backdrop of emerging social conflicts ...it is imperative to undergo such large-scale training for presidents from grassroots courts." said Zhou Zemin, director of SPC's political department.

Over the past year, a string of high-level judicial officials were punished for their involvement in corruption scandals.

Among them were former SPC vice president Huang Songyou, who was sentenced on Jan. 19 to life imprisonment for taking bribes and embezzlement and Wen Qiang, former director of the Chongqing Municipal Judicial Bureau, who was executed on charges of corruption charges involving organized crime.

Training judicial staff has long been a priority on the SPC's agenda.

The SPC spent three years training judges of grassroots courts from 2005 to 2007.

Since 2006, the SPC sent lecturers to grassroots courts in the western provinces and autonomous regions. As of Thursday, nearly 150,000 judges and police officers have attended such lectures, according to the SPC.