Video links up remote courtrooms

By Xu Fang  |   2008-10-16  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A video-conferencing system connecting Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People's Court to two of the city's most remote regions, Chongming County and Baoshan District, comes online today.

The system means that those from Baoshan and Chongming do not need to travel to the downtown court to attend hearings.

This is the first time a court on China's mainland has adopted the technology for handling civil cases.

Wang Xinfang, the court director, said two courts equipped with live networking facilities have been set up in Chongming and Baoshan. Judges and litigants in Shanghai's No.2 Intermediate People's Court can see and talk to those in the two remote courts via computer monitors. Evidence can also be displayed and reviewed.

"The system can cover all corners of the court and the hearings will be held following strict legal procedures," Wang said.

Litigants can apply for a long-distance trial when they file a lawsuit or lodge an appeal.

"It must be agreed by both parties in the lawsuits before the long-distance trial is carried out," said Wang.

The system will be used in two civil cases in Chongming today.

In the first, a Shanghai decorating firm is suing four defendants based in Chongming over a disputed contract. Representatives of the Shanghai firm can attend the hearing in the °?downtown court while the four defendants argue their case from the remote courtroom on Chongming Island.

In the second case, both sides are Chongming villagers. The plaintiff was hired by the defendant to paint a house but was injured on the job when some scaffold collapsed.

The plaintiff was incapacitated and now uses a wheelchair. This helped the judges to decide that he should be allowed to set out his case without having to travel all the way into the city.

"Besides offering convenience to litigants, the long-distance live system can improve trial transparency as more people in the suburbs can listen to the hearings, and it will improve the efficiency of judges," Wang said.

The system will also be used in simple criminal cases, judges said. Criminal suspects can be tried in the nearest court to their place of detention, so that court police don't have to spend hours escorting suspects to and from the court.

If the system is successful, it will be extended to Jiading and Qingpu districts, judges said.