Chinese procuratorates approve 168,000 arrests in Q1

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Procuratorates across China approved the arrest of 168,000 people suspected of committing various crimes in the first quarter of this year, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) announced Friday.

Prosecutorial organs initiated prosecutions against 347,000 individuals involved in criminal activities in the first quarter, the SPP said.

During the first three months, prosecutorial authorities nationwide accepted over 31,000 public interest litigation cases and initiated actions in more than 1,600 of them.

They granted approval for the arrest of more than 7,100 juvenile crime suspects and prosecuted 12,000 juveniles involved in criminal activities in the first quarter. During the same period, prosecutorial authorities also approved the arrest of 7,800 individuals involved in crimes against minors.

Between January and March, prosecutorial organs indicted a total of 53,000 individuals for telecom and internet-related frauds in order to safeguard public interests, according to the SPP.

To crack down on crimes involving unfair competition, procuratorial organs prosecuted more than 8,900 people for disrupting market order in the first quarter, up 47.4 percent year on year.