Guiding Case No. 1 of the Supreme People's Procuratorate：Case of Gang fights by Shi and other 16 persons

Case No. 1 of the Supreme People's Procuratorate

When handling criminal cases arising out of mass events, the procuratorial organs shall, from the perspective of settling social conflicts, look deep into the complex factors behind such cases, handle them with caution according to law, and actively participate in mediation and settlement of disputes, to promote social harmony and realize the integration of legal effects and social effects.

Shi and other eight criminal suspects were from Xicen Village, Yongning Town, Shishi City, Fujian Province.

Li and other seven criminal suspects were from Ziying Village, Yongning Town, Shishi City, Fujian Province.

Xicen Village and Ziying Village, adjacent in Yongning Town, Shishi City, Fujian Province, once had a good relationship, but recently, there had been disputes between them over land use and drainage. To settle such disputes, the Government of Yongning Town organized personnel to perform construction in the area where disputes over land use and drainage existed, but had to stop construction due to obstructions many times. At 8 a.m. of December 17, 2008, the town government organized some town officers and a construction team to perform construction again. At 9 a.m., Shi and other eight criminal suspects and dozens of villagers from Xicen Village came to the construction scene, wearing hard hats and carrying bags of stones, sticks, spades and other instruments. Later, Li and other seven criminal suspects and dozens of villagers from Ziying Village also arrived at the construction scene, carrying sticks and spades. They confronted villagers of Xicen Village, and both sides started to fling abuses and stones to each other. Police officers from the Public Security Bureau of Shishi City arrived at the scene, and tried to persuade both parties to dismiss. However, some villagers continued fling abuses and stones, causing damage to two police vehicles (with an assessed loss of 761 yuan) and hand injury to three police officers (not up to the standard for a slight injury after identification).

After this case occurred, the Public Security Bureau of Shishi City requested the People's Procuratorate of Shishi City to approve arrests of Shi and eight others from Xicen Village and Li and seven others from Ziying Village who were actively involved in the fights on charges of gang fights. To prevent situations from getting worse and create beneficial factors for settling disputes, when deciding to approve arrests of the aforesaid criminal suspects according to law, the People's Procuratorate of Shishi City also suggested that the public security organ and the relevant departments jointly assist the villagers' committees of both villages in settling disputes. On March 16, 2010, the Public Security Bureau of Shishi City transferred this case to the People's Procuratorate of Shishi City for prosecution examination. When handling this case, the People's Procuratorate of Shishi City, focusing on the key issue of unraveling feud, set up a dispute settlement task force to try to settle disputes between the two villages. With support from the local party committee, people's congress and government, the task force visited the local party committee and government of Yongning Town many times, carefully surveyed the disputed area, communicated with the villagers' committees, and made plans. After coordination, the local town government sought advice from experts, and performed construction in the disputed area according to the drainage and sewage planning of the town. From the perspectives of traffic safety and environmental protection, fences and sidewalks were built around the disputed drainage conduits, as part of the unified planning of the town government. The aforesaid measures were generally accepted by villagers from both villages. During the period of dispute settlement, the task force also patiently explained laws and policies in detail, and paid attention to soothe villagers. Villagers involved in this case and their family members regretted their gang fights as a means to settle disputes. They all showed willingness for reconciliation. On April 23, 2010, the villagers' committees of Xicen Village and Ziying Village signed a reconciliation agreement, and the persons involved in this case also signed a letter of commitment to refraining from such acts and abiding by law. So far, the disputes between these two villages had been properly settled, and the deep-rooted cause for such disputes had been eliminated.
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