Sixty government officials charged with dereliction of duty or abuse of power, including torture, face investigation and prosecution, the Beijing Municipal People's Congress heard Tuesday.

The figure was double that of 2003, said Xu Haifeng, chief prosecutor of the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate, in his report to the ongoing third session of the Congress Tuesday.

Half of them had been working for judicial organs such as police departments and courts, he said.

Another 19 were bureau or department directors.

"Fifty cases resulted in casualties or loss of property. Some used torture to coerce statements, and some interfered with elections or infringed upon citizens' democratic rights," he said.

Thirty-seven people were killed in an accident during a Lantern Festival gathering in Miyun County in February last year.

Police officers Sun Yong and Chen Bainian were in charge of safety at the festival.

It was later found that no police had been at the site to evacuate festival-goers.

Sun and Chen were each jailed for three years by the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court in November. "We will try our best to guarantee human rights of citizens," said Chief Prosecutor Xu Haifeng.

The procuratorate investigated 408 government officials for corruption last year.

"Economic losses of 460 million yuan (US$56 million) were saved through our efforts," he said.

President of the Beijing High People's Court Qin Zheng'an also delivered a work report to the congress yesterday.

Under Chinese law, governments, courts and procuratorates are all supervised by the people's congress, which is the legislative body.

Various levels of local courts in Beijing completed 1,230 cases and lawsuits relating to Taiwan Province, as well as the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, last year. This was 157 per cent up on the 2003 figure.

Beijing-based local courts made 24 State compensation orders of 347,000 yuan (US$42,000) in total last year.

The two reports will be discussed by deputies to the 12th Beijing Municipal People's Congress and voted on Thursday for approval.

(China Daily January 26, 2005)