Figures show that of the 2,200 such cases reported by the public since 2005, 738 people in 678 cases were subsequently prosecuted.

Of those, 65 were county-level officials, with five holding more senior positions.

Since the beginning of 2006, the procuratorate has rewarded 23 people for providing information on such cases, Huang Liming, director of the anti-dereliction of duty division of the provincial procuratorate, said.

Also on Thursday, the provincial disciplinary watchdog disclosed details of four its most serious cases.

In one, two police officials in Huazhou, Guangdong, were charged with torturing to death Huang Weiqing in November 2002, who had earlier been arrested for being a grifter.

A court heard how police officer Huang Weiguang, who had been drinking alcohol prior to interrogating the suspect, repeatedly beat the man about the head, chest, back and legs until he lost consciousness, in a bid to extract a confession.

Huang Weiqing later died of his injuries on November 14.

A second police officer, Li Hanyu, was found guilty of failing to intervene; he instead simply left the room.

Almost 40 police officers from the station unanimously testified that the suspect had killed himself by hitting his head on a table while being questioned.

However, the dead man's family continued to appeal to government departments for justice. The provincial procuratorate eventually set up a special team and after a two-month investigation reached its decision on the police officers involved.

Huang was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Li got two years for dereliction of duty. A number of other police officers were also punished.

In another case, Fu Zuoqing, the former president of the Qingyuan Intermediate People's Court, received 11 years' imprisonment for misuse of power, bribery and embezzlement.