Chinese procuratorates handle more public interest lawsuits in 2019

BEIJING -- China's procuratorates handled more public interest lawsuits in 2019, particularly involving environment protection, resource conservation, food and drug safety and state-owned asset protection, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

Prosecutors across the nation placed 113,848 public interest litigation cases on file for investigation and prosecution from January to November 2019, Hu Weilie, a senior SPP prosecutor, said Wednesday, noting that the figure represented a year-on-year surge of 27.2 percent.

They brought 4,019 such cases to court in the first 11 months of 2019, an increase of 57 percent from the same period a year before, Hu said.

The number of pre-litigation procuratorial suggestions to administrative organs delivered by procuratorates rose 18.5 percent to 91,124 over the period, he added.

"The efforts were conducive to safeguarding national and public interests as well as improving state governance," Hu said.