Prosecutors share progress in public interest litigation

Evidence collection and lack of clues are two main problems in the Jing’an District procuratorate's handling of public interest litigation cases, it showed on Thursday.

Between July 2017 and last month, the procuratorate handled 66 cases and there was an upward trend in the number of cases every year, Guan Wei, deputy chief prosecutor of the district’s procuratorate, said during a conference.

Over 20 cases have been solved before being filed for investigation.

Among the remaining 45 cases, 12 were about food and drug safety, Guan said, adding that over 2,000 illegal food business operators have been investigated in these cases.

There were also seven environmental protection cases, he showed.

Other cases include the protection of the environment and state property, car-hailing services and garbage sorting.

Three years after China pushed for solving of public interest cases in July 2017, some gaps and problems still exist in dealing with those cases.

Collecting valid evidence requires professional people and equipment, especially with respect to environmental pollution and illegal food and medicine businesses, said Mao Wenjing, director of the procuratorate.

To solve this problem, the procuratorate has bought equipment like drones and invited 11 professionals in areas such as environment, food and medicine and the Internet to join as its first batch of external assistants.