A SENIOR judge in Hubei Province was sacked yesterday after a video emerged online showing him entering and leaving a hotel with his alleged mistress.

    Zhang Jun, who led the third division of the provincial criminal court, was dismissed by Hubei Higher People’s Court, which said he would be subjected to further investigation. It said Zhang had maintained a long-term affair with the woman.

    The footage, dated in October and taken from a budget hotel’s CCTV cameras, surfaced on large Internet forums Sunday, along with a post indicating Zhang’s name and workplace.

    The nearly 18-minute video showed Zhang and his alleged mistress being joined by a third woman in the lobby, where his alleged mistress checked in while he waited in the lounge, before they took the same elevator. Zhang and his alleged mistress were seen leaving the hotel separately more than two hours later.

    Zhang’s alleged mistress was said to be a lawyer at a major law firm.

    Zhang was a judge at Jianghan District court before being promoted to his latest position in 2011. The higher court earlier denied that Zhang worked for the provincial judiciary, responding to media inquiries by saying there was no judge in Hubei by that name.

    It was unclear who leaked the video, which generated substantial responses from netizens, many of whom referenced other “sex scandals” involving judges. As the buzz increased, the post and video were removed from numerous websites.

    In August, three judges in Shanghai were sacked for visiting a nightclub together and sleeping with prostitutes. They also were caught on tape and exposed online.

    The scandals have substantially damaged the reputation and credibility of China’s judges and deepened public anger at corruption in the legal system. (SD-Agencies)