Public litigation a highlight of Shanghai prosecutors' work

Shanghai People's Procuratorate has strengthened its public litigation function in 2018, safeguarding Shanghai's environment and food safety, said the city's chief prosecutor on Jan 29.

The city's prosecutors have established 281 cases that infringe on public interest, and brought 15 of them to court, said Zhang Bencai, director of the municipal procuratorate, who delivered a work report at the ongoing annual session of the Shanghai People's Congress.

The municipal procuratorate issued 130 notices and suggestions to related government departments, urging them to solve those cases, such as clearing illegally dumped garbage, monitoring pollution companies to comply with environmental standards, and putting producers of problematic food and drugs on a blacklist.

It has also established a mechanism to coordinate procuratorates of different cities and provinces in the Yangtze River Delta region to protect the river through investigation into environmental crimes.

In terms of the criminal proceedings, the procuratorate issued around 28,000 warrants of arrest and filed more than 27,000 prosecutions in courts last year, including the notorious killing of two elementary schoolboys in June by a man seeking revenge on society.