The third plenary meeting of the fifth session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday. The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate presented work reports to about 3,000 national legislators at the meeting.
China's judicial authorities made the following eight pledges to be carried out this year, which are sure to influence Chinese people's daily life, according to Xinhua and People's Daily.
1. To stamp out phone and cyber fraud
Activities associated with these fraudulent tactics change and cannot be detected easily, which means victims suffer greatly. New technology to triumph over fraudsters is important and people also need to pay attention to privacy. The Supreme People's Court will hand out due sentences for those involved in telecom and internet fraud, to maintain social stability.
2. To cut down on school and hospital violence
The Supreme People's Court will try cases involved with issues such as education, employment, and medical treatment. The Supreme People's Procuratorate pledged to strike hard on gang violence, gun and explosives-related crime, crimes involving drug manufacturing and trading, the trafficking of women and children, making and selling fake products, school violence and violent activities causing damage or injury to medical workers.
3. To weed out village villains and gangs of relatives
Procurators investigated 17,410 lower-level officials suspected of corruption in land expropriation and demolition, social security, management of agriculture-related funds and other issues concerning people's well-being last year. However, villains and gangs in some rural areas still operate beyond the arm of the law. The Supreme People's Procuratorate vowed to punish these criminals to safeguard rural residents' sense of security.
4. To inflict heavy punishment on illegal fund-raising
Financial risks come with financial innovation. Cyber fraud is disguised as peer-to-peer lending and illegal fundraising exists under the cover of innovation. Many people fall for these tricks because of so-called high rewards. The Supreme People's Procuratorate promised to crack down on internet finance crimes, and to reinforce punishment on crimes like illegal financing, money laundering, underground banks and online pyramid selling.
5. To guard against judicial corruption, not allow dark corners
The Supreme People's Court will strike out against abuse of power, corruption and fund embezzlement among its judicial organs. The Supreme People's Procuratorate vowed to restrain judicial corruption, not allowing dark corners to go undetected. In 2016, procurators investigated 47,650 people for their suspected involvement in duty-related crimes.
6. To impose further restrictions on deadbeats
Deadbeats, or "laolai" in Chinese, is a derogatory term in Chinese used for debtors who refuse to pay back what they owe. It has always been hard for courts to enforce the law when they face these deadbeats, but the Supreme People's Court said it will solve this problem in two or three years. Law enforcement will be standardized. Information construction also will be strengthened.
7. To crack down on corruption of officials involved in poverty relief
The Supreme People's Court will attach importance to cases involving poverty relief in an effort to help achieve poverty alleviation with local characteristics. Courts at all levels convicted 2,862 criminals of bribery and concluded 15,000 cases involving corruption, embezzling funds and other crimes associated with poverty alleviation last year. The Supreme People's Procuratorate will go on to help punish and prevent duty-related crimes in poverty relief areas.
8. To give more safeguards and assistance to policemen in grassroots units
Grassroots policemen don't earn much but shoulder many pressures. They even face threats and violence when enforcing the law. The Supreme People's Court promised to guarantee the rights and interests of these policemen. The Supreme People's Procuratorate pledged to cultivate procurators in Midwest China.
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