China's prosecutors have been set a 60-day deadline to deal with
and respond to complaints from the public.
A new regulation issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate
also requires procuratorate offices to acknowledge and assign
complaints within seven days.
Procurator-generals can approve extensions up to a maximum of 30
days if the cases are too complicated to be handled in 60 days,
under the regulation.
Petitioners should be informed of the results in writing and can
request a reconsideration if they are not satisfied.
Procurator-generals should hold hearings for petitioners at
least 12 times a year for at least half day each time, under the
regulation.
The information of petitioners should be kept confidential.
Those in charge of complaints will face penalties if they fail
to handle the cases in time, abuse their power, impair the legal
rights of petitioners or leak information.
Procuratorates are in charge of dealing with complaints about
courts and procuratorates, work-related accusations against civil
servants, public security departments and prisons, and suggestions
for prosecutors.
(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2007)