Top court orders review of potential errors in property cases
Courts across the country will continue reviewing potentially wrongful decisions in property rights cases this year to offer better protection for the legitimate rights of property owners, a senior officer with the top court said.
“All mistakes found will be corrected, and wrongful cases will be rectified,” Yan Maokun, director of the research office with the Supreme People’s Court, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.
He said reviewing possible wrongful decisions in property right cases and improving the quality of such trials is high on the top court’s agenda this year.
The top court will offer guidance to courts around the country on how to handle appeals in legal cases that are related to property rights or other legitimate rights of entrepreneurs, he said.
It will also conduct regular checks of local courts, and require them to report on the progress of how they’ve reviewed such disputes, including how they’ve rectified wrongful convictions in property-related cases, Yan said.
“The aim is to protect the legitimate rights of entrepreneurs and offer them a better business environment,” he added.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued a guideline in November 2016 on better protection of property rights in an effort to shore up social confidence and promote social justice.
A document released after the annual Central Economic
Work Conference on Dec 20, which set the tone for China’s economic policies this year, also asked for the review and rectification of some property rights disputes that have raised social tensions.
On Dec 28, the top court announced the retrial of three major cases linked to property rights involving Gu Chujun, former chairman of Guangdong Kelon Electrical Holdings Co. There has been a pretrial meeting in one case, and the other two have been reheard, Yan said.
Gu was arrested in 2005. A final court ruling by the Guangdong High People’s Court in 2009 sentenced him to 10 years in prison for falsifying and withholding information and embezzlement. He was also fined 6.8 million yuan ($1.07 million). Gu petitioned the top court in 2012.
“We’ll conclude the three retrials as quickly as possible in accordance with the law, and release the rulings to the public in a timely manner,” Yan said.
“We believe that a better resolution to a typical case is more significant than issuing a set of documents to guide grassroots courts to uphold justice.”
The top court will soon make public a second group of typical property rights cases it has resolved for use as a reference by local courts, Yan said. The first group was unveiled in January.
“Equal protection is our principle while handling such cases, no matter whether an enterprise is domestic or from overseas, and whether it is private or State-owned,” he said.
Meanwhile, courts are required to pay more attention to safeguarding intangible properties, such as intellectual property. They also should be strict in distinguishing civil economic disputes from economic crimes, Yan said.
“We must not interfere in or solve civil financial disputes using criminal penalties, or confiscate property and declare people guilty with insufficient evidence,” he said.
Many entrepreneurs have complained that when courts are handling property-related cases, law enforcement seizes or freezes properties more often than necessary, hampering companies’ operations.
In response, the top court has told courts across the country to be cautious in adopting such measures and to minimize negative impacts on the operation of companies, Yan said. If there’s no evidence to prove property has been obtained illegally, the courts should not order any confiscation or repayment of earnings, according to the top court.