China News Service, March 2nd. Yuan Ming, Director of the Second Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, pointed out that in March 2020, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and multiple departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Handling Criminal Cases Involving Manhole Covers" (hereinafter referred to as "Guidelines"). Since the Opinion), as of December 2020, procuratorial organs across the country have approved 34 criminal cases involving manhole covers, 38 persons, 49 cases and 55 persons were prosecuted, and 8 cases were filed and supervised.
The number of investigations of arrests, investigations and prosecutions is about twice the number of cases handled in the past two years.
On the 2nd, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate held a press conference to deepen the implementation of the “No. 4 Prosecutorial Recommendations” to protect the people’s “safety under their feet”.
Yuan Ming pointed out that in recent years, there have been frequent well crashes caused by theft, damage, and improper management and maintenance of manhole covers, which have seriously endangered the lives and property of the people.
In order to crack down on crimes involving manhole covers in accordance with the law and promote the improvement of management of manhole covers, in March 2020, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the Supreme People’s Court and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions", and issued the guidance to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development on the management of manhole covers. The "No. 4 Prosecutorial Recommendations" has been highly valued and effectively implemented by relevant units such as the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.
Yuanming introduced that as of December 2020, procuratorial organs at all levels and relevant functional departments have held more than 480 joint meetings, conducted more than 700 joint inspections, and issued more than 1,000 procuratorial recommendations in response to the hidden safety hazards of manhole covers discovered during visits and investigations. It has supervised the rectification of problematic tube wells, eliminated more than 176,000 hidden safety hazards of manhole covers, promoted the replacement of more than 41200 smart manhole covers by relevant departments, and installed more than 158,300 anti-falling nets and anti-displacement improvement devices.
Yuan Ming stated that the "Guiding Opinions" will be issued until December 2020. Prosecutors across the country have approved 34 criminal cases involving manhole covers, 38 persons, 49 cases and 55 persons were prosecuted, and 8 cases were filed and supervised.
The number of investigations of arrests, investigations and prosecutions is about twice the number of cases handled in the past two years.
In addition, the proportion of cases identified as the crime of damaging traffic facilities and endangering public safety by dangerous methods has risen from 28% before the issuance of the "Guiding Opinions" to 37%.
Some local procuratorial organs changed the crimes of crimes involving manhole covers transferred by the public security organs from crimes of theft and death caused by negligence to crimes of endangering public safety, forming a powerful deterrent to crimes involving theft and damaging manhole covers.
Yuan Ming introduced that as of December 2020, 424 public interest litigation cases involving manhole covers have been filed by procuratorial organs across the country. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate has successively released two batches of ten typical criminal cases involving manhole covers, and promoted the promotion of the public’s awareness of the rule of law and safety through case interpretation and warnings. Encourage the masses to report and report related illegal crimes involving manhole covers, and to enhance the masses' awareness of public safety and risk prevention.