[JURIST] Public trust in the Chinese judiciary needs in be restored in the face of court corruption and systemic failures to implement court orders, according to a report by the China's chief justice submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress [official websites] Monday. The report says that 800,000 court orders remain unimplemented by the courts due to negligence or bribery, and other statistics disclosed by China's People's Daily show that over 461 judges were punished for graft-related offenses in 2004. Addressing the Standing Committee, Chief Justice Xiao Yang [official profile] announced [press release, in Chinese] a three-year reform plan focusing on implementing a strict code of conduct for local judges.

Last week, Chinese President Hu Jintao called for an end to judicial corruption [JURIST report] while four top Chinese judges face trial on charges of accepting bribes to fix the outcomes of cases in Anhui province. The People's Daily has more.