The SCMP reports
- Viral photo appears to show judicial officers and court staff instructing lower court judge via WeChat during criminal trial in northwest China
- Lawyers involved in the trial report the actions to police and provincial prosecutors, calling for malpractice probe and criminal investigations
Most Chinese lawyers have low expectations about the independence of Chinese courts, but many were still shocked to see a judge in northwest China receive real-time instructions from his supervisors in the middle of a trial earlier this month.
The incident took place on May 11 at the Tianjun county court in Haixi Mongol and Tibetan autonomous prefecture in the northwestern province of Qinghai.
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