China vows harsher punishment for corruption, terrorism(2)

In line with lawmakers' proposal of imposing harsher punishment for those giving bribes to staff of state organs to pursue illegitimate interests, judicial organs handled more cases of such crimes last year.

A total of 7,827 bribers were prosecuted for criminal offenses, up 37.9 percent from the previous year, according to the SPP report, while the SPC report showed 2,394 people were convicted for offering bribes last year, up 12.1 percent from the previous year.

Authorities also pledged "zero tolerance" to judicial corruption which had raised public complaints these years.

Procuratorates investigated and punished 404 staff within their own system last year while 2,108 court officials were punished for violating disciplines and laws, according to the two reports, which vowed to "eradicate black sheep" in the judicial organs.

COUNTER-TERRORISM

The chief justice noted ever-growing threats from terrorism and separatism and vowed severe punishments for offenders.

According to Zhou, Chinese courts convicted 712 people for instigating secessionist activities or participating in violent terrorist attacks in 2014, representing a year-on-year increase of 13.3 percent.

Overall, courts in China concluded some 1.02 million first trials in criminal cases last year and convicted 1.18 million people.

"We will actively participate in the fight against terrorism and secessionism, severely punish violent terrorist crimes according to the law, and severely punish all types of crimes that gravely endanger the safety of the people," Zhou said.

Violence and terrorism have been on the rise in China over recent years. Three people were killed and 39 others injured when a sports utility vehicle plowed into crowds near the Tian'anmen Square in the heart of Beijing on Oct. 28, 2013.

On March 1 last year, knife-wielding assailants killed 31 people and injured 141 others at a train station in Yunnan' s provincial capital Kunming.

"We will resolutely safeguard national security, ethnic unity and social stability," Zhou said, adding that the courts have meted out harsh punishments to the suspects of the Tian'anmen and Kunming attacks according to the law.