China prosecutes over 1.81m criminal suspects in 2019

BEIJING -- Procuratorates across China approved the arrests of over 1.08 million criminal suspects and prosecuted more than 1.81 million in 2019, according to a meeting of chief procurators held in Beijing this weekend.

Over 90,000 suspects were prosecuted for mafia-style crimes in 2019, an increase of 60.3 percent over the previous year. More than 1,400 suspects were prosecuted for providing "protection umbrellas" for such crimes.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate said it has reached an agreement with the Ministry of Public Security to intervene in all cases of mafia-style organized crime in advance, starting this year.

In 2018, China launched a campaign against organized crime and officials who harbored criminal organizations, in a bid to safeguard social security and improve the people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and security.

Apart from gang crimes, procuratorates across the country prosecuted over 18,000 suspects for duty crimes in 2019, up more than 80 percent over the previous year.

With the support of discipline inspection and supervisory commissions at various levels, procuratorates filed cases against 872 judicial officers for violating citizens' rights and damaging judicial justice.

Procuratorates also stepped up efforts to optimize the legal environment for private businesses by attaching equal importance to cracking down on crimes and guaranteeing the rights and interests of personnel from non-state-owned enterprises and units.

Procuratorates also received over 490,000 letters from the public in 2019, up to 99.1 percent of which were replied to within three months.