China stresses punishment on illegal behavior intended for blackmail

BEIJING — China vows to strengthen the crackdown on illegal behavior intended for blackmail, a problem of great concern to the people, according to a guideline issued on Oct 14.

The guideline, jointly released by the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security, identifies and specifies several illegal acts, such as deliberately crashing a car to claim compensation, and their corresponding punishments.

Acts of fabricating facts, concealing truths and swindling compensation, that meet the relating provisions of the Criminal Law, shall be convicted and punished as the crime of fraud, according to the guideline.

Malicious behavior, including fabricating facts about the infringement of personal or property rights and interests as well as bringing a civil lawsuit on the grounds of a fake civil dispute, shall be punished as the offense of false charges if meeting the relating provisions of the Criminal Law, it adds.

The guideline also stipulates that whoever deliberately causes a traffic accident and blackmails the victim utilizing the victim's violation of provisions on road passage, which meets the relating provisions of the Criminal Law, shall be punished as the crime of extortion by blackmail.

A relatively stable criminal organization formed by three or more persons for committing such blackmail-related crimes jointly should be considered as a criminal group, it said, noting that those in conformity with the identification standard of organized crimes should be investigated, prosecuted and tried accordingly.