Since 2018, the procuratorate has prosecuted nearly 800 cases of sea sand theft and more than 2100,<> people

China News Network, June 6 -- The Supreme People's Procuratorate held a press conference on "Escorting the Rule of Law and Helping the Construction of a Maritime Power" on the 8th, and released the "Minutes of the Symposium of the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the China Coast Guard to Crack Down on Illegal Crimes Related to Sea Sands in accordance with the Law." Gao Jingfeng, director of the Legal Policy Research Office of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said at the meeting that the procuratorial organs have severely cracked down on criminal activities related to sea sand in accordance with the law. Since 8, procuratorial organs across the country have accepted, reviewed, prosecuted more than 2018,1000 cases and more than 2800,800 people for illegal sea sand mining, and prosecuted nearly 2100 cases involving more than 11,<> people, involving <> coastal provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government).

A reporter at the meeting asked: In recent years, what has the procuratorial organ mainly done in punishing illegal crimes related to sea sand according to law, and what results have they achieved? What are the targeted provisions of the "Minutes" on the key and difficult issues in the process of handling criminal cases involving sea sand?

Gao Jingfeng said that in recent years, procuratorial organs across the country have been able to perform the functions of the "four major procuratorates" in accordance with the law, and have effectively protected the "ocean blue" with "procuratorial blue".

The first is to severely crack down on criminal activities related to sea sand in accordance with the law. Since 2018, procuratorial organs across the country have accepted, reviewed, prosecuted more than 1000,2800 cases and more than 800,2100 people for illegal sea sand mining, and prosecuted nearly 11 cases involving more than <>,<> people, involving <> coastal provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government). Judging from the procuratorial handling of cases, the crime of illegal sea sand mining is mainly concentrated in the coastal waters of Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong, showing certain regional characteristics. At the same time, the renovation of means and repeated prohibitions not only steal and destroy national mineral resources, seriously threaten the marine ecological environment, but also harm the national and social public interests, and must be severely cracked down on and comprehensively rectified in accordance with the law.

The second is to increase the intensity of procuratorial handling of public interest litigation. In February 2019, the Supreme People's Procuratorate deployed a one-year special supervision activity for procuratorial public interest litigation "Protecting the Ocean", and achieved remarkable results. In 2, procuratorial organs across the country filed and handled a total of 2022,2731 public interest litigation cases in the field of illegal mining of mineral resources, of which 1236,45 cases were illegal sand mining, accounting for 86.<>%, further improving the quality and efficiency of public interest protection, and giving full play to and highlighting the unique effectiveness of procuratorial public interest litigation in the field of mineral resources protection. For example, the Guannan County Procuratorate in Jiangsu Province invited relevant experts to carry out seabed surveys, ecological restoration assessments, etc., and explored the establishment of marine sand ecological restoration standards in combination with case handling.

The third is to study and issue judicial interpretations and documents of the nature of judicial interpretations. In 2016, the Joint Supreme Court formulated and issued the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Illegal Mining and Destructive Mining; In 2020, the Supreme Court and the China Coast Guard formulated and issued the Notice on Jurisdiction and Other Related Issues in Maritime Criminal Cases, clarifying the application of law in the handling of criminal cases involving sea sand, and strengthening case-handling guidance.

Gao Jingfeng said that in recent years, the procuratorial authorities have also found in their work that due to the particularity of maritime crimes, such as the easy destruction of maritime crime scenes and easy destruction of evidence, front-line case-handling departments face practical problems such as inconsistent standards of application of law, difficulty in collecting evidence, and poor crackdown effects when handling criminal cases involving sea sand, which urgently need to be solved in a targeted manner. In this regard, the Minutes highlight the problem-oriented approach, respond to the needs of practice, and focus on the following issues:

The first is to solve the problem of inconsistent application of crimes related to sea sand. The applicable crimes for sea-related sand crimes mainly include the crime of illegal mining, the crime of concealing and concealing the proceeds of crime, and the crime of proceeding from crime, but in practice, the applicable standards vary from place to place. Based on the general principle of joint crime, the Minutes clarify the specific circumstances in which sea-related sand crimes are respectively treated as the crime of illegal mining or the crime of concealing criminal proceeds and the proceeds of crime, taking into account factors such as whether there is prior collusion, joint criminal intent in the incident, and whether the sand mining act is completed.

The second is to solve the problem of difficulty in subjective and intentional determination of sea-related sand crimes. In practice, there is no direct contact between the sea sand mining gang and the sea sand transportation gang, and there are generally first-level or even multi-level intermediaries between each other, and the communication is mostly a one-line contact, and the perpetrator is subjective and intentional and it is not easy to identify. On the basis of summarizing practical experience, the Minutes make it clear that to determine whether an actor has criminal intent, a comprehensive analysis and judgment shall be made on the basis of evidence such as his or her employment, professional experience, professional background, training experience, and evidence that he or she has received administrative punishments or criminal prosecutions for similar conduct.

The third is to solve the problem of incompatibility between upstream and downstream criminal punishments. Due to the difference in the sentencing standards for conviction and sentencing for the crime of illegal mining and the crime of concealing and concealing the proceeds of crime and the proceeds of crime, the problem of inverted sentences for upstream and downstream crimes sometimes arises in handling cases. Based on relevant judicial interpretations, the Minutes further clarifies the specific rules for disguising or concealing the crime of illegally transporting, acquiring, selling on behalf of, or otherwise disguising or concealing illegally mined sea sand and the proceeds it generates.

The fourth is to solve the problem of difficulty in determining the responsibility of labor service personnel. In handling cases, for those who repeatedly participate in illegal sand mining but only provide labor services to receive fixed wages, due to insufficient evidence, subjective intentions and other reasons, it is often impossible to determine that they constitute illegal crimes of sea sand mining, and it is difficult to effectively crack down. The Minutes further clarify the judgment criteria for "high fixed wages" and the specific circumstances in which "generally not to be punished as a crime" does not apply, accurately define the criminal liability of labor service personnel, and effectively ensure that there is no impunity.