Political, legal black sheep to be targeted

China has launched a nationwide operation to rectify problems in the country's political and legal system and remove black sheep.

At the launch of the campaign in Beijing on Saturday, Guo Shengkun, head of the Communist Party of China Central Committee's Political and Legal Affairs Commission, urged the rectification of deep-rooted problems in the system and its personnel to enable the building up of public trust.

Guo said that while most political and legal personnel can be trusted by the Party and the people, there are still some problematic areas.

The campaign will be carried out in two phases. The first, to the end of June, is targeting political and legal commissions and departments at the city and county levels, as well as provincial prisons and drug rehabilitation centers.

The second phase, from August to the end of October, will inspect political and legal commissions and departments at the central and provincial levels.

The campaign will focus on chronic problems in the political and legal system that affect the fairness of law enforcement and the judiciary and adopt targeted countermeasures, he said.

All political and legal departments have been asked to accurately identify and review prominent issues and dig out the in-depth causes to eliminate the soil breeding such problems.

Problems such as personnel refusing to file cases or investigate registered cases and violators' guilt, as well as judicial officers inappropriately contacting lawyers and illegally dealing with commutation, parole and probation, will be targeted.

The operation will also address deep-seated troubles exposed by a crackdown on organized crime, and all divisions of the political and legal system will be inspected to thoroughly investigate "protective umbrellas" for organized crime and corruption in law enforcement and the judiciary, Guo said.

People who conduct self-examinations and turn themselves in will receive more lenient punishment, but violators who refuse to confess and are subsequently uncovered by the authorities will be strictly penalized.

All departments have been asked to explain the policy well to staff members, with leading cadres expected to take the lead in self-inspection.

Leniency for those confessing to violations will have its limits, and it cannot make their mistakes sound less serious or reduce them to nothing at all, Guo said, adding that punishment must follow relevant regulations and procedures and avoid wrongful convictions.

The national leading group for the rectification campaign has set up a platform for reporting violations by political and legal personnel, and all local authorities will set up similar platforms.

The commission launched a five-month pilot rectification campaign in July focused on 35 units with 16,000 personnel, with 2,247 of them penalized for various violations.

Authorities in Harbin－capital of Heilongjiang province and one of the pilot cities－combined the rectification campaign with the crackdown on organized crime and smashed a mafia-style gang. They captured 58 gang members and their "protective umbrellas", and seized assets worth 240 million yuan ($37 million).