The number of environmental public interest cases brought by NGOs and prosecutors increased rapidly during the past 12 months as related laws and a pilot program move forward, the nation's top court said.
Shanghai is testing an artificial intelligence system that helps police officers, prosecutors and judges check the validity of evidence in criminal cases, as part of an effort to prevent wrongful convictions.
President Xi Jinping has urged efforts to unswervingly advance reform of the country's judicial system as it is crucial to the country's rule of law and the entire governance system.
Almost a decade ago, police in Yunnan province reported that an inmate at a detention house had died during a game of hide-and-seek. Li Qiaoming, a suspected tree thief, had actually been beaten to death by fellow inmates.
China has been making efforts to correct wrongful convictions and remove evidence obtained illegally over the past few years, in a move to uphold justice by regulating legal procedures, China's top court said.
A new cyberspace court, set up to handle the soaring number of online piracy and e-commerce disputes, could act as a high-tech model for China's entire justice system, according to legal experts.
US citizens or companies were at the center of most international intellectual property disputes heard in China in 2015 and 2016, according to the Supreme People's Court.
