BEIJING
The number of terrorism cases heard by courts in China rose by nearly 15 percent last year, according to a report presented to the annual session of parliament, state media reported Friday.
Courts judged 558 cases of “separatism and terrorism,” a rise of 14.8 percent on the previous year, the China Daily said.
A total of 712 people were convicted and punished, an increase of around 13 percent year-on-year, Chief Justice Zhou Qiang said as he delivered a report on the work of the Supreme People’s Court on Thursday.
“We will actively participate in the fight against terrorism and secessionism, severely punish violent terrorist crimes according to the law and severely punish all types of crimes that gravely endanger the safety of the people,” Zhou said, according to the Shanghai Daily.
He highlighted the March 2014 knife attacks at Kunming rail station, Yunnan province, in which 31 people died.
Zhou was speaking during the National People's Congress, purportedly China’s foremost legislative body but widely viewed as a rubber stamp for decisions taken by the Communist leadership.
Guo Lianshan, Communist Party secretary for the Xinjiang autonomous region, said authorities were prepared to handle terrorism-related cases.
In Xinjiang, home to a sizeable Uighur Muslim minority, Beijing has launched a crackdown that activists say is a smokescreen for repression. The government is currently drafting legislation amid fears it could be used to define dissent as terrorist activity.
Zhou said more than 55,000 people, a 7.4 percent increase on 2013, were investigated for corruption last year, with 44,000 convicted for embezzlement and bribery.
Overall, courts in China concluded 1.02 million criminal trials last year, convicting 1.18 million people.
