ASSESSORS TAKE COURT SYSTEM INTO NEW ERA

Changes expand ordinary people's role in wider array of cases

Retired primary schoolteacher Diao Quangui witnessed two legal landmarks after taking his seat at the front of Beijing No 4 Intermediate People's Court on May 8.

Not only did he see the first public-interest lawsuit brought by prosecutors against a company over air pollution, but as a people's assessor he was also part of the first seven-person bench to hear a case since a major change in the law.