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China trials held for show,

need reform-official

BEIJING: A senior Chinese legal official has called for reform of China's trial system, saying many court proceedings were held just for show with decisions made beforehand, the Legal Daily said on Saturday.

The practice of writing the judgment before holding a token trial should be stopped, the paper quoted Wang Huaian of the Supreme People's Court's Law Consultation Committee as saying.

He called for open trials and protection for the accused, saying court proceedings should be used to determine truth.

"The key lies in strengthening court functions," Wang was quoted as saying. "This is the core of trial system reform."

"Proof should be produced in court, facts should be presented in court, right and wrong should be debated in court and finally judgment should be carried out in court," he said.

The burden of proof on the plantiff should be increased, he said.Laws stating these principles are already on the books, but in practice they are often ignored, he said.

China introduced new laws last month which for the first time assume defendants are innocent until proven guilty and set limits on how long police can hold suspects without charge.

Legal officials have said, however, that many Chinese police and judicial officials lack basic legal expertise and operate virtually unchecked in their own fiefdoms.

"Reform of the trial system should not be done by abolishing our present legal regulations, but by reforming habits and out-dated attitudes to attaining proof in trial that are unbeneficial to legal practice," Wang said.

He did not suggest how this was to be done.-Reuter