China's procuratorates boost judicial assistance: report

BEIJING -- China's procuratorial organs have stepped up judicial assistance to meet the needs of people who initiated public complaints, according to a report by the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP).

While delivering a work report on the handling of complaint and petition cases by the people's procuratorates to an ongoing session of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Thursday, procurator-general of the SPP Zhang Jun said that over 12,000 cases of judicial assistance have been handled in the first eight months of this year, an increase of 61 percent year on year.

Zhang said that over 200 million yuan (about $31 million) of judicial aid was granted from January to August, an increase of 70 percent from the same period last year.

Procuratorial organs also innovated public review in the form of hearing, Zhang said, adding that over 5,000 public hearings have been held in the first eight months of this year.

Procuratorates also made efforts to promote the substantive settlement of conflicts and disputes to address the legitimate demands of people, Zhang noted.