[JURIST] Huang Songyou [official profile] was removed from his position [Xinhua report] as vice president of China's Supreme People's Court [official website, in Mandarin] Tuesday in a vote by Chinese legislators. No explanation was given for the action, but earlier this month, Huang was reportedly detained by party officials [South China Morning Post report] in an alleged corruption scandal. AFP has more.

Huang was noted for promoting judicial enforcement of constitutional rights, writing [text, PDF] in a 2001 opinion that the Supreme People's Court's had reached a milestone in ruling that citizens' basic constitutional rights should be protected. In 2004, Huang said changes to China's Criminal Procedure Law [JURIST report] were needed because China had adopted a human rights clause in its constitution.