Chinese courts to combine punishment with leniency to ensure production resumption

BEIJING -- Chinese courts will combine punishment with leniency while handling cases to offer judicial guarantees for enterprises to resume business amid the novel coronavirus epidemic, a senior official said Feb 26.

"The courts will accurately observe the boundaries of laws and policies while severely punishing crimes that hinder the epidemic prevention and control as well as the resumption of work and production," said Zhang Shuyuan, vice president of the Supreme People's Court at a press conference.

Tough penalties will be given to those involved in epidemic-related crimes, including acts committed by mafia-like gangs that disrupt normal traffic order, as well as those related to sabotaging transport facilities, hoarding protective gear, price gouging, and production and sales of counterfeit products, fake medicines and other substandard medical equipment, he noted.

"We should not only effectively deter crimes to ensure epidemic prevention and control and the smooth resumption of work and production, but also protect the rights and interests of enterprises and ensure their normal operations," Zhang told reporters.

In cases where more lenient penalties can be taken in accordance with the law, compulsory measures such as restricting personal and property rights shall be avoided as far as possible, he noted.

Necessary liquidity and current accounts shall be reserved for companies if it is necessary to seize or freeze their assets, while the equipment, funds and technical data that the enterprises involved are using for production or scientific and technological innovation shall not be sealed up or frozen, according to Zhang.

For business operators who are awaiting trial, courts will be prudent in adopting coercive measures related to detention, he added.

Chen Guoqing, deputy procurator-general of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, told the same press conference Wednesday that procuratorial organs will give full play to their role of supervision and advance procuratorial work in civil affairs, administration and public interest litigation to ensure the orderly resumption of work and production.

For violations in confiscating property involved in judicial cases, procuratorial organs should put forward suggestions for correction, he said.

"Supervision on civil cases related to epidemic prevention and control should be strengthened," Chen said, adding that illegal acts hampering the resumption of work and production or infringing the rights and interests of the enterprises and their staff should be corrected immediately.

For epidemic-related public interest litigation cases, especially those concerning producers and business owners of important medical protection gear such as masks and protective clothing, procuratorial organs must strike a balance between legal supervision and supporting the resumption of work and production, Chen said.