BEIJING, Jan. 3 -- The Supreme People's Court (SPC) said on Sunday that 270 court officials have been punished for violating the Party code of conduct in the past three years.

Among those punished, 42 were Party chiefs and court presidents, while eight were discipline inspection officials accredited to the courts, the SPC said in a statement.

They were either critiqued by the authorities or given sanctions, such as a demerit mark on their records, or dismissed, it said.

The SPC has made public cases involving 13 court presidents who were held accountable since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in late 2012, according to the statement.

The SPC has published an interim regulation on division of responsibility to strengthen Party discipline and clean governance, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2016.