Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe NANJING, China, April 20 (UPI) -- A civic affairs bureau in China has taken a step forward for the proletariat's cause by seeking legal redress for two beggars killed in traffic accidents. A lawsuit filed by the Gaochun Civil Affairs Bureau in Nanjing is the first such in China against car drivers, reports the official Xinhua news agency. Advertisement The suit had its first hearing Thursday in a People's Court. The two beggars, both around 60 years old, died in traffic accidents in 2004 and 2005. The civic affairs bureau conducted their funerals as no relatives came forward to demand compensation, and later decided to file the lawsuit on its own, seeking a total of about $3,750 from the accused drivers. "We consider it an obligation for us to demand civil compensation for these unlucky men killed accidentally, although the regulation doesn't clearly designate this type of situation," said a bureau official. "If we don't sue, the troublemakers will go unpunished in a legal vacuum." The defendants say they will only compensate the true relatives of the two victims.
