China's procurator-general Jia Chunwang pledged to strengthen the supervisory functions of procuratorates and standardize law enforcement in order to safeguard social equity and justice.

In his report on the work of the Supreme People's Procuratorate to the ongoing Second Session of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) Wednesday, the procurator-general said that the Chinese procuratorates would strictly enforce laws and strengthen prosecution of serious crimes that threaten state security, social order and the socialist market order and take an active part in the combination of measures to improve law and order.

The top prosecutor also said that the procuratorial organs will keep a close watch on criminal proceedings, civil case hearings and administrative proceedings to see that the judgment is fair, the judicial proceedings are not violated and the right of litigation is not encroached upon and correct the outstanding problems associated with prison term reduction, release on probation and receiving medical treatment on probation, areas in which the people have the most complaints.

Jia promised to do good preparations for revising the organic law of the people's procuratorates, do a good job of instating the people's supervisor system, prevent and correct cases of detention beyond the prescribed time limit and ensure the normal practice of lawyers in criminal proceedings.

Jia admitted that the procuratorates at all levels have not done enough to check the problems of unfairness in the enforcement of law and failure to implement law, thus allowing some corruption cases that happened at the grassroots to go unpunished. There are also cases of police officers violating law and discipline and there are even cases of violating the law while enforcing the law, Jia said.

Last year, the procuratorial organs in China corrected 22,575 cases that should but were not put on file for investigation; removed the files of 2,552 cases that should not be put on file for investigation; disapproved 58,872 arrests that did not conform to the law provisions; and canceled the prosecution of 27,957 cases that were not serious enough for prosecution. In criminal proceedings, prosecutors protested against the ruling of 2,906 cases they deem misjudged. They also proposed in writing to correct the judgment of 9,518 cases that they deemed the litigation rights of the parties concerned were violated, according to Jia.

In civil and administrative procedures, procuratorial organs also protested against the rulings of 13,120 cases involving the rights and interests of peasant-workers in cities and laid-off workers and advanced proposals for re-hearing and re-prosecution on 3,316 cases.

China has instituted the "people supervisor" system on the trial basis to oversee procuratorial organs in their decisions of canceling prosecution of cases and arrests. The system has been tried in 10 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. So far, 4,944 people have been recommended to be "people's supervisors". The system has proved that law enforcement has become more transparent.

(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2004)