Jiang Bixin, a delegate and vice-president of the Supreme People's Court, considered the group as the most important step for the central leadership to further implement the rule of law.

 

"If the group is established, it will help us reach more agreements on the rule of law and then integrate more legal efforts across the country," Jiang said. "Meanwhile, the nation can also make policies in line with our judicial building and solve related problems in a timely manner."

 

Song Yushui, a Beijing judge, said she was happy to see that increasing protection of human rights was in the report. "It is a big demand of people and also a key to fulfill the rule of law."

 

In the past five years, more than 3,800 criminal defendants were found innocent because of insufficient evidence or unclear facts, which Song considered the best proof of the country's determination to protect human rights.

 

Xue Jimin, a lawyer from Jiangsu province, said, "Filing a case has not been difficult for people since Chinese courts banned unnecessary barriers to the process through judicial reforms. That also protects human rights in litigation."

 

He said the country built a national system to protect lawyers' rights at the beginning of this year, and so far 321 attorney associations in 31 regions have pushed forward the system.

 

In recent years, the country has also issued several rules to regulate the behavior of lawyers, hoping the industry can effectively enforce the rules, according to Xue.

 

But he added the protection for more than 340,000 attorneys nationwide still needs to be improved, "since the better the environment for lawyers to help people file lawsuits, the more legal services will be given to litigants." He said he is looking forward to seeing more measures to protect lawyers' rights.