Tough measures vowed to fight organized crime

The Supreme People's Procuratorate has vowed to establish and improve mechanisms to fight organized crime in its early stages and prevent the resurgence of such crimes.

The top procuratorate issued a document on Tuesday urging procuratorial organs to fully play their roles in the fight against organized crime and maintain severe punishment for crimes committed by criminal gangs.

A three-year nationwide campaign to combat organized crime was launched by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council in January 2018.

Authorities in dozens of fields participated in the campaign, including the procuratorial organs.

The document said that the campaign had effectively wiped out gangs, improved public security, safeguarded the authority of the rule of law, and improved the people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and security.

A total of 3,644 mafia-style organizations and 11,675 criminal gangs were busted during the period, and about 237,000 suspects were caught, according to statistics from the national office against organized crime of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee.

This year, normalizing the fight against organized crime was included in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).

Additionally, a draft law on fighting organized crime was submitted to the country's top legislature for review in December and again in August to promote normalized and institutionalized efforts to crack down on organized crime.

The document asked procuratorates to continuously target all kinds of gang crimes that the public have strongly complained about.

Prosecutors should handle cases in strict accordance with the law and fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of defendants and lawyers, ensuring the fight against organized crime is always in line with the rule of law, it said.

Prosecutors were asked to strengthen coordination with discipline inspection authorities to remove people who sheltered organized crime.

Any property involved in such crimes should also be properly handled.

Procuratorates should also improve the quality and efficiency of case handling by being involved at the early stage of investigation.

Leniency policies should be applied in strict accordance with the law for those who pleaded guilty and accept punishment, and prosecutors should strengthen the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of any minors involved, the document said.

It also asked for improved cooperation between procuratorial organs. Procuratorates at higher levels, when necessary, can deploy prosecutors, or assign other procuratorates to handle such cases out of their jurisdiction.

Procuratorates should take the initiative to enhance governance in areas and industries where there are prominent problems of organized crime, it said.

The document said the procuratorates' work should assist in promoting rural vitalization, preventing and rectifying problems such as "village tyrants" or clan forces eroding governance and public security order in rural areas.