1An unofficial court set up by a revolutionary or vigilante group.

1. 1.1 An official court in a communist country.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • The intermediate people's court sentenced him to death for making and selling over 600 tonnes of "protein powder" laced with melamine.
   • The Beijing number one intermediate people's court found him guilty of "inciting subversion of state power" in internet articles and interviews with foreign reporters.
   • He and his accomplices then channelled 38 million of the utility's revenues into his own pockets, said the Suining intermediate people's court.
   • We're seeing worsening contradictions between the ever-rising legal demands from the masses of the people and the relative incapacity of the people's courts.
   • Yesterday's session at the intermediate people's court in Jiamusi focused on whether his protest slogan counted as subversion, her lawyer told agencies.
   • The Beijing No 1 intermediate people's court said his main crime was to have abused his position to secure benefits for himself and his family.
   • At an intermediate people's court in early 2002, he was sentenced to death and deprived of political rights for life, and had his assets confiscated.
   • The people's court ruled she should serve imprisonment for deliberate injury and pay compensation of 8000 yuan to the child.
   • On the death penalty, Amnesty welcomed a decision by the supreme people's court (SPC) to formally resume its role of approving all death sentences.
   • The "libel" case was scheduled for trial on February 13, 2001, but the trial was postponed by the intermediate people's court in Taiyuan, the provincial capital.
   • Canadian and Australian diplomats who tried to enter the first intermediate people's court of Beijing to observe the trial were turned away.
   • But the higher people's court in Shaanxi ordered her execution after it ruled her depression was not directly related to her crime.
   • Lethal injections will eventually be used in all intermediate people's courts, instead of relying on firing squads.

2US informal A small-claims court.