The police are now re-investigating the case, and the province's Higher People's Court has announced that the retrial will be broadcast live for public supervision. Zhang Liyong, as the head of the provincial court system, believed the reasons behind the two incorrect rulings are that many judges in China still tend to presume the suspects are guilty, and some judges have not fulfilled their responsibility to check the facts before finding an accused guilty.
If there are loopholes in a case or not enough evidence to prove the suspect's guilt, judges should find the person innocent. But in reality, as the last link of the judicial system, some judges make compromises with prosecutors, presume the suspect is guilty, but hand down a lighter sentence, he said.
"Police make the dish (investigate criminal cases and find the suspects), prosecutors serve the dish (verify the facts and approve arrests), and the court eats the dish," Zhang said.
"But often the judges devour the dish without checking whether it is clean or poisonous."
This year, the Henan Higher People's Court is planning to broadcast at least 5,000 cases live on its website, according to Chen Haifa, director of the website office of the court.
But it will not broadcast cases that involve privacy, juveniles and State secrets, Chen said.