Beijing, March 10 (IANS) Courts in China convicted and punished a total of 5.24 million criminals from 2008 to 2012, the country's top judge said in a report published Sunday.
The figure was up 25 percent over the period from 2003 to 2007, Xinhua reported.
Around 1.9 million criminals were convicted of murder, robbery, kidnapping, planting bombs, human trafficking and organisational crimes, said Wang Shengjun, president of the Supreme People's Court.
Wang delivered the report at the first session of the 12th National People's Congress, China's top legislature.
About 20,000 criminals were convicted of production and distribution of unsafe food.
The judge said courts across the country have been cautious about delivering the death penalty and the supreme court strictly reviewed any such sentences.
"We have ensured the capital punishment to be imposed on a very small number of people convicted of extremely serious crimes," he said.
Over the past five years, the supreme court closed around 49,900 cases and others courts closed over 55 million cases.
According to the report, civil cases related to business and intellectual property rights have seen an increase in the past five years.
The number of business cases rose by around 42 percent from that in the previous five years while those related to intellectual property rights increased by a whopping 284 percent.
The courts also sanctioned 218 million yuan (around $35 million) as state compensation in about 8,600 cases.
The judge said the supreme court worked to improve transparency of court proceedings.
Annual work reports of courts were published and judgement papers were put online while parties could follow the proceeding of their cases through court websites.
The number of people's jurors also increased by 53 percent to 85,000.
Selected from among common citizens from all walks of life to work with professional judges at lower courts, people's jurors took part in 1.5 million cases.
However, the court system still faces a number of difficulties and problems and efforts are needed to guarantee the independence of judges and to improve the transparency of court work, he said.
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