[JURIST] China's Supreme People's Court (SPC) [official website, in Chinese] on Wednesday announced new anti-corruption rules in an effort to increase public confidence in the rule of law. The new regulations [Xinhua report] prohibit various activities including accepting bribes, having sex with litigants, intimidation, and intentionally prolonging court proceedings, with punishments ranging from demerits to removal. Chinese courts are under the control of the Communist Party of China (CPC) [GlobalSecurity backgrounder], which announced plans [JURIST report] earlier this month to increase its oversight of the families of government officials to control corruption. A communique released by the CPC's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), which is in charge of detecting and preventing corruption in the CPC, ordered other CPC organs to carefully monitor officials to make sure they are not accepting bribes or receiving improper gifts.

China's new judicial regulations come after the conviction [JURIST report] of former SPC vice president Huang Songyou on bribery and embezzlement charges earlier this month. Huang is the highest-ranking judge to be charged with corruption since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Between 2005 and 2008, Huang allegedly embezzled 3.9 million yuan (about $574,000 USD) while serving as vice president of the SPC, and he allegedly embezzled 1.2 million yuan (about $175,000 USD) while serving as president of the Intermediate People's Court of Zhanjiang in 1997.