China put into prison more than 12,000 criminals involved in more than 300 cases of organized crimes of underworld in nature from April to December, 2001, said Liu Jiachen, vice-president of the country's Supreme People's Court, Sunday.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet.com, the country's leading web-based media outfit, the vice-president said that 62 percent of the criminals were sentenced to at least five years' imprisonment.
The cases of underworld in nature were established according to the provisions of the criminal law which has very clear stipulations and facts of each specific case.
The vice-president said the courts paid particular attention to uncovering their "protective umbrellas" and "those behind the scenes" and dealt with them relentlessly. The courts in fact uncovered quite a number of such "umbrellas" in government organs or enterprises and institutions and meted out due punishments to them.
(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2002)
