Prosecutors pledge faster handling of violent cases

Beijing's top judicial and prosecution organs pledged to speed up the handling of violent cases to ensure that "justice is never delayed" after the fatal stabbing of a physician at a Beijing hospital in December.

"Prosecution should quickly process the approval of arrests and litigation of seriously violent crimes and perform their duties to guarantee social justice," said Jing Dali, chief procurator of the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate. "We need to better perform our duties and build more qualified prosecutor teams."

He made the remark while delivering a work report to the annual session of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress. The report was submitted to the capital's legislative body on Wednesday and will be reviewed by deputies to the congress in two days.

In 2019, Beijing's procuratorial organs handled 95,543 cases and concluded 95,531, an increase of 18.5 percent and 23.4 percent respectively compared with the previous year.

Prosecutors across the capital cracked 88 cases related to endangering public security, according to the report. A total of 142 major illegal fundraising crimes each involving more than 100 million yuan ($14.5 million) were handled last year, and 2,099 people were prosecuted.

By strictly handling criminal cases, prosecutors citywide also paid great attention to innovative mechanisms to complete the social governance system, Jing said.

On Dec 24, Yang Wen, a doctor who worked in the emergency department at Civil Aviation General Hospital in Beijing's Chaoyang district, was stabbed by a man believed to be a patient's relative, Sun Wenbin.

Despite rescue efforts from a team of medical experts from several top Beijing hospitals organized by the city's health commission, Yang, who sustained serious neck wounds, died early the following day.

The city's prosecutors approved the arrest of Sun, 55, on a charge of intentional homicide on Dec 27.

Kou Fang, president of Beijing High People's Court, said the high court maintained a tough stance toward serious crimes and would severely punish violent acts such as murder, robbery and kidnapping.

"Over the past year, we sentenced 1,166 people to more than five years' imprisonment, and we always strive to ensure the safety and security of people's lives and property," he said.

"We will further improve trial quality and efficiency to solve the problem of difficult enforcement of judgments and promote construction of a social credit system," he said.

The capital's legislative body also planned to formulate a new regulation this year to guarantee safety in hospitals, according to a report delivered to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress on Tuesday.