China News Service, Huzhou, December 11 (Guo Qiyu) The Third Service Guarantee Yangtze River Economic Belt Development Inspection Forum was held in Huzhou, Zhejiang on the 11th. The Supreme People's Procuratorate of China issued the "Service Guarantee Yangtze River Economic Belt Development Inspection White Paper (2020) at the meeting. "(Hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper") shows that from January to November 2020, the procuratorial organs of 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt approved the arrest of 2,140 cases of crimes of damaging ecological environment and resources, 3335 people, and prosecuted 13,358 cases of 22,543 people.
For example, the procuratorial organs adopted special case registration and supervision of the crime of destroying ecological environment and resources. A total of 637 cases were accepted and supervised, and the public security organs were required to explain the reasons for not filing 571 cases.
In terms of public interest litigation, the "White Paper" shows that from January to November 2020, the procuratorial organs of 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt filed a total of 30,930 public interest litigation cases in the field of ecological environment and resource protection, a year-on-year increase of 15.38%.
Issued pre-litigation procuratorial recommendations to administrative agencies to supervise the performance of duties in accordance with the law in 21,526 cases, 372 separate civil public interest lawsuits against units or individuals that damage environmental resources, and 2361 criminal and incidental civil public interest lawsuits, and administrative agencies that fail to perform their duties according to law 247 public interest litigation cases.
"While punishing crimes of damaging the ecological resources of the Yangtze River in accordance with the law, we consider ecological restoration as a sentencing consideration for the perpetrator's confession and repentance." Lu Hongtao, deputy director of the Eighth Prosecutors Office of the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China, said that the prosecutors urged the restoration through handling cases. 177,400 acres of forest land, arable land, wetland, and grassland were destroyed or illegally occupied by pollution, hidden pollution hazards were eliminated, 1.334 million acres of polluted water sources were rehabilitated, and 4,437 enterprises and breeding farms were renovated.
The "White Paper" proposes that the next step will be to advance the legislative process of the Yangtze River Protection Law, explore the establishment of a special prosecutor's office in the Yangtze River Basin, and focus on various cases in the field of ecological environment and resource protection.
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