The Supreme People's Procuratorate of the People's Republic of China (SPP) is the highest national agency responsible for legal

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

and prosecutorial investigation in China. The SPP reports to the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

(NPC). The Procuratorate acts as a public prosecutor for criminal cases, conducting both the relevant investigations and prosecutions of such cases. The agency also reviews the legal rulings of the local and special procuratorates, the lower people's courts, and issues judicial interpretations. Conceived initially in 1949 as the Supreme People's Prosecutor's Office, the agency was renamed the Supreme People's Procuratorate in 1954. The Procuratorate was abolished during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, before being re-instated in 1978. Between the 1990s and 2010s, the agency experienced a host of reforms pertaining to its selection of personnel, internal organization and role in the management of corruption. Beginning in March 2018, the Supreme People's Procuratorate no longer undertakes the initial investigation of corruption cases by government officials; this task is undertaken by the newly formed National Supervisory Commission. The Supreme People's Procuratorate is organized into ten specialized prosecutor's offices, which operate under the direction of a Procuratorial Committee. Led by a Prosecutor-General, the Procuratorate is also composed of several Deputy Prosecutors-General and additional prosecutors. The Prosecutor-General is appointed by the NPC, which also elects the other members of the Supreme People's Procuratorate at the Prosecutor-General's recommendation. The current Prosecutor-General of the People's Republic of China is Ying Yong.

History

Origins

The most rudimentary version of the Supreme People's Procuratorate was established in September 1949 with the promulgation of the Organic Law of the Central People's Government. Initially titled the "People's Prosecutor-General's Office", the Supreme People's Procuratorate was the first national agency tasked with the supervision of the law in the newly founded People's Republic of China. The responsibilities of the initial Procuratorate were formalized in the 1951

Statute A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

s. As described by academics Ginsburgs and Stahnke, the agency's powers encompassed: * Overseeing the abidance of the law by all individuals, public organizations and state agencies; * The investigation of individuals who breach the law or

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

interests; * The ability to reject judgements made by lower judicial bodies; * The supervision of legal abidance in the nation-wide prison system; * The ability to review and reopen cases dropped by lower procuratorates when

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...

ed; * Serving as a legal representative for the Party's interests in civil and administrative

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

s. Alongside these functions, the Procuratorate was able to prosecute anyone deemed suspicious and warranting investigation and could request information from other state organs to assist with the prosecutorial process. The Procuratorate also had the ability to establish an office in each

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

to supervise and lead the judicial system in the locality. However, the Procuratorate was largely inactive following its inception. This changed in 1953 when investigation departments within the body were created.

Rise and early years

In 1954, the People's Prosecutor-General's Office was renamed the "Supreme People's Procuratorate" at the first session of the First National People's Congress. The new Procuratorate was formally enacted in the 1954 State Constitution subsequently adopted by the Congress, retaining its legal supervisory role. The jurisdiction of the Procuratorate was established as encompassing all government bodies, public functionaries and

citizens Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality; ...

of China, except the Central People's Government, which oversaw the agency's operation.

Cultural Revolution

During the

of 1966 – 1976, the people's procuratorates lost favor as they were perceived as an interference to the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party. Reflecting this sentiment, the Supreme People's Procuratorate was abolished from the 1975 State Constitution alongside all other procuratorates. Following its dissolution, the Procuratorate's powers of legal supervision over the state and individuals were transferred to the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

. The Supreme People's Procuratorate was subsequently re-established in 1978 via the reinstatement of the Organic Law of the People's Procuratorates in the 1978 State Constitution. Its renewal served as a mechanism for the Party to oversee and prevent misconduct within the administration. In 1980, the Supreme People's Procuratorate established a Special Procuratorate to investigate and prosecute the Lin Biao and

Jiang Qing Jiang Qing (March 191414 May 1991), also known as Madame Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary, actress, and political figure. She was the fourth wife of Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Chairman of the Communis ...

"counter-revolutionary cliques." In a trial led by the serving Prosecutor-General Huang Huoqing, the

defendant In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case. Terminology varies from one juris ...

s were found guilty of plotting a coup to overthrow the leaders of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

during the Cultural Revolution.

Development and reform

In the 1990s, major reforms were made to the Chinese judicial system, including the people's courts and procuratorates. These changes occurred primarily in response to the economic reform of China as a

socialist market economy The socialist market economy (SME) is the economic system and model of economic development employed in the China, People's Republic of China. The system is a market economy with the predominance of public ownership and State-owned enterpr ...

, a development instigated by Deng Xiaoping's southern tour in 1992. In 1995, the Procurator's Law was introduced to "professionalize the judicial personnel" by raising the stringency of the requirements used to select procurators and other procuratorate personnel. Emphasis was placed on the selection of prosecutors and personnel based on merit, performance and experience in

legal practice Legal practice is sometimes used to distinguish the body of judicial or administrative precedents, rules, policies, customs, and doctrines from legislative enactments such as statutes and constitutions which might be called "laws" in the strict ...

. Further reform of the Procuratorate accompanied the adoption of the "Implementing Opinions of the Three-Year Procuratorial Reform" in January 2000. This reform affirmed the hierarchy of the procuratorates and formalised the role of the higher procuratorates supervising and directing procuratorates located beneath them. Alongside the reform, a new training program for procurators was introduced from 2001–2005 to manage workforce performance within the Procuratorate. In December 2018, major alterations were made to the internal organization of the Supreme People's Procuratorate through the restructuring of existing departments and the establishment of ten new prosecutor's offices. Four of these offices were established to handle the prosecution of various types of criminal cases. The remaining six departments oversee "civil, administrative, public interest and juvenile cases, complaints handling, and investigation into duty crimes committed by judicial personnel," respectively, as reported by

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. It is a ...

, China's official state-run media agency. In November 2020, the Intellectual Property Prosecution Office of the Supreme People's Procuratorate was established to handle the investigation and prosecution of

intellectual property rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

infringements.

Anti-corruption enforcement

In 1979, the Supreme People's Procuratorate began its involvement in the investigation and prosecution of corruption by establishing a specialized department to investigate economic crimes. Further pressure from student activists and Party members alike in the early 1990s led to the people's procuratorates developing more stringent protocols to manage corruption. Anti-corruption enforcement by the Supreme People's Procuratorate's grew in 1995 with the introduction of three new departments to manage corruption: the Anti-Corruption and Bribery Bureau, the Corruption Prevention Department, and the Anti-Dereliction of Duty and Infringement of Citizens’ Rights Department. However, the Procuratorate's supervision of corruption was later streamlined by legislation from the

in late 2014, which resulted in the amalgamation of the agency's three anti-corruption departments into a single anti-corruption authority. In May 2017, the Supreme People's Procuratorate's Anti-Corruption Bureau and Alibaba "to create a clean, credible, rule-of-law market environment." Pursuant to the memorandum, the Bureau provides Alibaba and Ant Group with access to criminal records from bribery cases and Alibaba and Ant Group query those records including during verification of

Taobao Taobao is a Chinese online shopping platform. It is headquartered in Hangzhou and is owned by Alibaba. According to Alexa rank, it was the eighth most-visited website globally in 2021. Taobao.com was registered on April 21, 2003 by Alibaba Cl ...

sellers and in connection with anti-money laundering initiatives and financial risk controls. The management of corruption by the Chinese Communist Party was broadly transformed in 2018. At the March meeting of the 13th National People's Congress, a new anti-corruption agency titled the National Supervisory Commission was formally installed to consolidate the various anti-corruption authorities which existed under the Party, including those of the Procuratorate. The Supreme People's Procuratorate role in anti-corruption enforcement was largely rescinded, with all these responsibilities directly transferred to the new National Supervisory Commission. The Procuratorate's anti-corruption personnel saw a similar transition.

Powers and jurisdiction

The Supreme People's Procuratorate serves as the highest prosecutorial power in the People's Republic of China, overseeing the nation's local and special procuratorates. As determined by the Organic Law, the primary function of the Procuratorate is to suppress illegal activities, particularly those which undermine the interests of China's ruling party, the

. The jurisdiction of the Procuratorate encompasses all cases related to

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

, public and state security, people's courts,

prisons A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

, detention centers and labour institutions within the People's Republic of China. The agency does not oversee the prosecution of cases from the special administrative regions of

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

, except those that are investigated by the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the CPG in the HKSAR. As specified in the

Constitution of the People's Republic of China The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the supreme law of the People's Republic of China (PRC). In September 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference adopted the Common Progr ...

, the Supreme People's Procuratorate nominally exerts its powers independently, without interference from "any administrative organ, social organization or individual." However, like the

Supreme People's Court The Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China (SPC) is the highest court of the People's Republic of China. It hears appeals of cases from the high people's courts and is the trial court for cases about matters of national ...

, the Supreme People's Procuratorate must report to the

, the highest state body in China.

Prosecution and litigation

The Supreme People's Procuratorate acts as a

public prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible ...

by handling both the investigation and prosecution of criminal cases in court, thus functioning as a civil law

inquisitorial system An inquisitorial system is a legal system in which the court, or a part of the court, is actively involved in investigating the facts of the case. This is distinct from an adversarial system, in which the role of the court is primarily that of an ...

. Such systems are also seen in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and socialist legal systems. Within the Procuratorate, criminal prosecution is overseen by four specialized departments that oversee "regular crimes, serious crimes, duty crimes, and new-type crimes," respectively. The agency reviews and arbitrates on which criminal suspects should be investigated and which criminal cases should be taken to a public prosecution. It may also initiate public interest litigation.

Legal supervision

The Supreme People's Procuratorate conducts reviews of rulings and investigations performed by local and special procuratorates. Additionally, for all types of cases, the Procuratorate may protest any rulings of the lower people's courts that it deems inappropriate or flawed by lodging a formal

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

with the

. For civil and administrative cases, including

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

cases, this intervention mainly occurs after the court has handed down a legally binding and enforceable decision. The Procuratorate may act in this manner by choice or when

ed by a litigant involved in a given case.

Judicial interpretations

The Procuratorate, either independently or in conjunction with the

, may also issue judicial interpretations, which are official and legally binding interpretations of the law. These interpretations may serve as "replies" to individual cases, reminiscent of Roman law, or apply more broadly. Despite theoretically possessing less legal authority than the law, academics C.H. van Rhee and Yulin Fu perceive the Procuratorate's judicial interpretations as being "almost as effective as law" in court.

Supervision of the state

Between the 1980s to the early 2010s, the Supreme People's Procuratorate investigated and prosecuted

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

and

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

through its anti-corruption departments. The Supreme People's Procuratorate also assisted the

Central Commission for Discipline Inspection The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is the highest supervisory organ of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCDI is elected and supervised by the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, CCP National Congress. ...

with the prosecution of party members relegated to a form of extralegal detention known as '' Shuanggui''. ''Shuanggui'' is a procedure used to extract evidence and confessions from CCP members under investigation. Material obtained using ''Shuanggui'' was passed onto the Procuratorate and used in the prosecution of party members. As of March 2018, the Supreme People's Procuratorate no longer performs these responsibilities. These powers have instead been assumed by the National Supervisory Commission, which campaigns against corruption in conjunction with the

– the anti-graft agency of the Chinese Communist Party. Some academics prompted that these changes have reduced the overall power of the Procuratorate.

Organisation

The Supreme People's Procuratorate is led by a Procuratorial Committee, which oversees the operation of the Procuratorate under the direction of the Prosecutor-General. The agency is further organised into ten prosecutor's offices, which each oversee a specific type of crime or

litigation A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. ...

. Various additional departments, such as the Political Work Department, also exist within the Procuratorate, to oversee additional affairs. Several subordinate institutions are also directly affiliated with the Procuratorate. The organisation of the Supreme People's Procuratorate is detailed below:

Executive bodies

* Procuratorial Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate ** Office of the Prosecutor General

Internal departments

Subordinate institutions

* Supreme People's Procuratorate Service Center * The Procuratorate Daily (newspaper) * China Procuratorate Publishing House * Procuratorate Technology Information Research Center * Procuratorate Theory Research Institute * State Procurators College

Members

Prosecutor-General

The Supreme People's Procuratorate is led by a Prosecutor-General, who serves as the Chief Grand Prosecutor and President of the Procuratorate. The office of the Prosecutor-General serves a five-year term, corresponding with the term length of the

. Each Prosecutor-General may serve a maximum of two terms. The Prosecutor-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate is elected by the

, in accordance with the Procurators Law of the People's Republic of China. The

also carries the executive ability to remove a serving Prosecutor-General from power. The current serving Prosecutor-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate is Zhang Jun. Zhang was elected to the position of Prosecutor-General in March 2018 at the first session of the 13th National People's Congress.

Other members of the Procuratorate

In addition to the Prosecutor-General, the Supreme People's Procuratorate is also composed of multiple Deputy Prosecutors-General, members of the Procuratorial Committee and additional procurators. All other members of the Procuratorate are appointed by the

Standing Committee of the National People's Congress The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. It exercises the powers of the NPC when it is not in s ...

at the Prosecutor-General's recommendation. Likewise, members may be removed from the Procuratorate at the will of the People's Congress and the Prosecutor-General. The current Deputy Prosecutors-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate are Tong Jianming, Sun Qian, Zhang Xueqiao, Chen Guoqing and Yang Chunlei.

List of Prosecutors-General

Prosecutor-General of the Supreme People's Prosecutor's Office of the Central People's Government * Luo Ronghuan (), October 1949 – October 1954 Prosecutor-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of the People's Republic of China * Zhang Dingcheng (), 25 September 1954 – 21 January 1976 * Huang Huoqing (), 21 March 1978 – 23 March 1983 * Yang Yichen (), 23 March 1983 – 31 March 1988 * Liu Fuzhi (), 2 April 1988 – 14 March 1993 * Zhang Siqing (), 14 March 1993 – 15 March 1998 * Han Zhubin (), 15 March 1998 – 19 September 2004 * Jia Chunwang (), 19 September 2004 – 16 March 2008 * Cao Jianming (), 16 March 2008 – 17 March 2018 * Zhang Jun (), 17 March 2018 – 11 March 2023 * Ying Yong (), since 11 March 2023

References

External links

* {{Authority control Government of the People's Republic of China

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

1954 establishments in China Government agencies established in 1954 Law of the People's Republic of China