China News Service, January 31. The Supreme People's Procuratorate held an online interview with the Director of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on the 31st. Miao Shengming, deputy ministerial-level full-time member of the Procuratorial Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate and director of the First Procuratorate, said that from 2019 to 2023 , accepted, reviewed and prosecuted 37,465 people for environmental pollution crimes. Among them, 2023 will be 11% lower than 2019.
Miao Shengming said that the ecological environment is a major political issue related to the mission and purpose of the party, and it is also a major social issue related to people's livelihood. As a judicial organ under the absolute leadership of the Party, the procuratorial organs should shoulder important responsibilities in the overall situation of ecological environment and resource protection.
On the one hand, the Supreme People's Procuratorate attaches great importance to the two-way connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice in the field of ecological environment, and has always maintained a high-pressure situation of severely punishing crimes that damage the ecological environment such as environmental pollution. The Supreme People's Procuratorate has thoroughly implemented the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Deepening the Fight against Pollution" and the resolution of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and jointly issued a judicial interpretation with the Supreme People's Court in August 2023, focusing on key river basins, regions, and industries for ecological environment and resource protection. , increase the punishment of environmental pollution crimes. With continued severe punishment, this type of crime is showing a downward trend.
From 2019 to 2023, 37,465 people were reviewed and prosecuted for environmental pollution crimes. Among them, 2023 will be 11% lower than 2019. Resolutely punish the crime of illegal discharge, dumping or disposal of hazardous waste. Starting from 2020, together with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the Ministry of Public Security, we will launch a special campaign to severely crack down on hazardous waste environmental crimes, and have successively falsified the automatic monitoring data of pollutant emissions from key pollutant discharge units, and third-party environmental protection The issue of fraud by service agencies is included in the scope of special crackdowns. Focusing on the common characteristics of key crimes in the field of ecological destruction, and taking common frequent areas and links as the entry point, we took the lead in publishing 7 typical cases of severely punishing crimes of hazardous waste environmental pollution in accordance with the law and 4 typical cases of falsifying automatic monitoring data of key pollution-discharging units in accordance with the law.
On the other hand, the Supreme People's Procuratorate has increased its crackdown on crimes that damage resource protection, and this type of crime is on the rise. From 2019 to 2023, 379,483 people were reviewed and prosecuted. In 2023, it will increase by 22.9% compared with 2019. Specifically, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, together with 9 departments including the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the State Administration for Market Regulation, have launched a special campaign to crack down on illegal fishing in the Yangtze River Basin and facilitate a ten-year ban on fishing in the Yangtze River. The illegal occupation of agricultural land was a crime and 22,000 people were prosecuted. In view of the frequent crimes of stealing mineral resources, more than 40,000 people have been prosecuted for illegal mining and destructive mining crimes. Together with the Ministry of Public Security and the China Coast Guard, we have specially cracked down on the illegal crimes of illegal mining of sea sand, and took the lead in issuing the "Evidence Guidelines for Handling Criminal Cases involving Sand at Sea" , increase case handling guidance.
Miao Shengming pointed out that in fact, the current decline in the number of cases of damage to the ecological environment and the increase in the number of cases of damage to resource protection are staged results of the crackdown, which must be affirmed. Of course, it has also been noted that further research is needed on the criminalization standards for some crimes that damage resources. For example, in some areas, cases are handled mechanically, and the criminalization standards for "double bans" on illegal fishing of aquatic products and illegal hunting are not strict enough, which deviates from The original intention of the law has been lost, and there are individual phenomena that do not meet the essential requirements of socially harmful characteristics.
Miao Shengming mentioned that currently, the Supreme People's Procuratorate is drafting evidence guidelines for environmental pollution crimes and is preparing to co-sign and issue them with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment to further unify law enforcement and judicial standards. In the next step, we will continue to intensify the crackdown on crimes that damage environmental resources, with the same direction and undiminished intensity. We will carry out in-depth special rectifications to severely crack down on hazardous waste environmental crimes and fraud by third-party environmental protection service agencies. We will crack down on some, deter some, and prevent some through special actions and joint relevant departments to supervise the handling of major, difficult and complex cases.
At the same time, we will further promote and improve the connection mechanism between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice in the field of environmental resources, and improve case transfer standards and procedures. In response to the continued sharp increase in crimes that damage wildlife resources, consider drawing on experience in treating drunk driving, strengthening research on the treatment of minor crimes such as illegal fishing of aquatic products and illegal hunting, improving the hierarchical governance model of violations and crimes, and accurately delineating the boundaries of criminal penalties, both in accordance with the law and We must impose strict punishments, strengthen biodiversity protection, adhere to the unity of law, reason and sentiment, adapt crime and punishment to crimes, and respect the laws of ecological protection. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen cooperation with internal departments of the procuratorial organs such as the procuratorial public interest litigation department and administrative procuratorial organs, deepen the integrated performance of the "four major procuratorial organs" in environmental resource cases and departmental linkage, and effectively achieve comprehensive management.