Tianshannet-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Zhang Ting) news: Everyone sitting around in a circle, enjoying the milk tea and snacks, playing the dombra, and exchanging words... This is a common scene of dispute mediation in the Kalamagai People’s Court of Fuhai County, hence winning the latter the nickname the Dombra Mediation Room.

It is early winter; the temperature is dropping and the coldness is building. Kalamagai is the farthest pastoral township from the county seat of Fuhai and the largest one in the county, with an area of more than 20,000 square kilometers, and more than 80% of its population are Kazak ethnic minority.

The Kalamagai People’s Court has jurisdiction over 17 administrative villages and more than 10,000 people. Equipped with only one judge, one assistant judge, one clerk and one bailiff, it hears more than 300 cases every year. Stationed at the township for years, they have traveled to every corner of the mountainous area, safeguarding the equity and justice here.

Photo shows investigators of the Kalamagai People's Court of Fuhai County stationed at the township for years. They travel to every corner of the mountainous area. (Photo provided by Areai Bahetebieke)

Early in the morning of November 20, the president of the Court, Areai Bahetebieke, handed her 5-year-old child to her parents and rushed to the Court. She had a full schedule that day: one on-site symposium, two subpoenas to be served, and three cases for on-site mediation...

“Some of the lambs have died. It was written clear in the agreement that we each own half of the lambs produced this year, but what about my losses?”

"It’s not my fault that the lambs were sick. You must pay me the herding fee.”

The moment she stepped into the office, Areai saw this argument: villager H was filled with indignation, demanding his payment for herding for villager A.

Areai and another colleague present separated them and took the arguing duo into two different mediation rooms, to get a better understanding of the situation.

After the two regained their calm, she led them into the Dombra Mediation Room where hot milk tea and the fragrant Baursak (traditional Kazak donut) were served, and Dombra music played. After the two villagers took their seat face to face, Areai offered her suggestions based on related legal knowledge and the principles of good neighborliness, which were later adopted by the two villagers.

Photo shows judge Areai Bahetebieke (second from left) mediates disputes among villagers. (Photo provided by Areai Bahetebieke)

Areai was transferred here from the County People’s Court in 2021. She said that the previous president often said that: “We must put ourselves in the shoes of the people when handling a case.” After spending decades trying civil cases in the village, the previous president knew well that most of the parties to civil cases are ordinary herdsmen, most of whom live in sparsely populated pastoral areas with inconvenient access to transportation, and the lawsuits are also mostly about marriage and other domestic disputes, loans, and pasture disputes, so mediation can play a big role in the trial of such cases. For some cases, he had to mediate not once, but twice or for three times, and even pay a dozen visits to the plaintiff and the defendant.

“The national emblem on our hat and the court emblem on the suit means responsibility,” said Areai. Under the guidance of the previous president, she learned three keywords for the mediation to work: geniality, harmony, and loyalty. To bring the people closer to each other and make them feel at home, the mediation room is equipped with a big dining table, and Baursak and milk tea are served, while the Dombra music is played, so that the parties concerned can settle their dispute in a relaxing atmosphere. This is the meaning of the keyword “geniality.” The keyword “harmony” refers to the harmonic rhythms of the Dombra and the parties burying the hatchet. “Loyalty” means that the judge must stay loyal to the Party, to the people, and to the law. That was how the Dombra Mediation Room was set up.

According to Areai, since the Dombra Mediation Room was set up in 2015, it has helped the Kalamagai People’s Court resolve more than 1,400 disputes, and more than 1,100 of them were mediated before the trial or resolved on-site, effectively strengthening the governance at the source of cases.

“Although most of them are small disputes between villagers, but if not handled properly, they may escalate to produce adverse consequences. After the establishment of the Dombra Mediation Room, we can basically resolve all the small disputes in the village, and major disputes in the town, without the need to bring the conflicts to higher authorities,” said Areai.

The Judges on Horseback Traveling between Winter and Summer Pastures

The town is sparsely populated on its vast land, and the jurisdiction area has a large radius. Both transportation and communication is inconvenient, and the traditional way of trial could not meet the people’s growing needs and expectations for judicial services. It is of particularly practical significance for the judges to go to the people in pastoral areas, instead of the other way around.

Over the past ten years, the judges of the Kalamagai People’s Court have traveled to all the 17 villages in the town, between winter and summer pastures, and got close to the local officials and herdsmen who affectionately call them the “judges on horseback.”

“Sometimes mediation doesn’t go well, and we have to spend a few and even a dozen days collecting evidence, making investigations and talking to the people,” said Areai.

Villagers S and A used to be good neighbors in the village of Qiganjidie in Fuhai County until they had a dispute over sheep. From October to December in 2022, S’s sheep snuck into A’s farmland many times, and A repeatedly drove them back to S and demanded him to keep a close eye on the sheep.

At the end of December, another invited visit of the sheep enraged A so that he cut one ear off each of the 18 sheep. The conflict was escalated.

After accepting the case, Areai organized a mediation for both parties in the judicial administration station, but the mediation did not go well. She then paid several visits to the plaintiff and the defendant to find out more about the case situation. After clarifying the points of disagreement, she asked them to the Dombra Mediation Room for mediation.

After several meetings, the two sides eventually reached an agreement, and signed the mediation agreement. The judge organized the two sides to implement the agreement. The defendant A compensated the plaintiff with 18 sheep of his own, and took S’s one-ear sheep back home; they apologized to each other, and shook hands to make peace.

“As long as the herdsmen need us, we will go no matter how rough the road is, and no matter how far it is. What we carry on our shoulders is the responsibility,” said Areai.

“Hello Mr. Liu, we mediated your loan dispute with Mr. Ye at the beginning of the month. Has he paid you back?” Moledeer Tabusi, an assistant judge of the Kalamagai People’s Court, opened the electronic statistical table, and made follow-up phone calls one by one.

After receiving an affirmative response from the other end of the phone, she typed “Fulfilled” on the computer. Every week, the staff of the Kalamagai People’s Court would update the sheet according to the latest situation, and regularly make follow-up calls to check on the enforcement of court orders have entered into force. Following-up is often important for case settlement. This approach was developed gradually through practice. It will urge the parties concerned to fulfill their responsibilities and ensure the realization of rights.

In recent years, the Kalamagai People’s Court have sought innovation to develop the Fengqiao model in promoting social harmony in the new era. It has established a new judicial service model with the Dombra Mediation Room as the main body, and the Three Differenciated Models of Pastoral Areas and the Ulungu Model as supporting measures, to truly bring equity and justice to the people.

The so-called “Three Differenciated Models of Pastoral Areas” refers to centralized case handling in congruous pastoral areas, appointment-based handling in dispersed areas, and follow-up handling in remote pastures. The judges will travel from time to time to these areas to resolve conflicts. Adopting the methods of on-site case handling, in-court mediation and settlement, and supervising execution, they work to resolve the conflicts and disputes resolved at the doorsteps of the people. The people’s mediation room is set up in 17 villages in the town. They also actively organize mediation in yurts and in farmland, and circuit courts, with circuit trial spots set up in remote pastoral areas, going the extra mile for serving the people.

In recognition of its delivery of one-stop diversified dispute resolution services, the Dombra Mediation Room and related practices of the Kalamagai People’s Court has been written into the Supreme People’s Court’s work report for two years. Kalamagai People’s Court has been awarded the titles of “Model of Building a Safe Xinjiang” and “the Best People’s Court” in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

This year, the Supreme People’s Court released model cases of “creating people’s courts based on the Fengqiao experience to promote the governance of litigation sources”, and the fifth group of example cases concerning the people’s courts in the new era. The good practice of the Kalamagai People’s Court in the pastoral areas was included.