Decisions are courts' responsibility: top judge

The president of China's top court said at two sessions that courts should take responsibility for big or controversial cases, Beijing Times reported on Wednesday.

Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People's Court, provided remarks as he participated in discussions of deputies of the National People's Congress, the top legislature, from Hunan province, the report said.

Zhou mentioned Xia Junfeng, who was sentenced to death after he stabbed to death two chengguan, urban management officers, during an argument over his food stall in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, said the report.

The top court reviewed the case and Xia remained on death row.

"Xia was a vendor. He killed two chengguan. But we could not give bias only because they were chengguan," the report quoted Zhou as saying. "And we could not listen to some social celebrities' saying to decide whether to sentence Xia to death."

"It is as two people fight with each other. One kills another and said what he did was justifiable protection. If so, our society will be disordered," he told the paper, stressing the importance of the justice.

caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn