Cao Yanqun pays a visit to a financially disadvantaged household.
Cao Yanqun, a prosecutor in Ziyuan county, Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, died on duty due to an outburst of acute cardiogenic disease, on Dec 15, 2021. Although she passed away at the prime age of 36, Cao's stories remain inspiring to her colleagues and are embraced with loving memories among those who she served with heart and soul.
On Feb 15, 2023, Cao, a member of the Ziyuan procuratorate committee and deputy director of its first procuratorial department, was awarded posthumously the title of "National Model Prosecutor" by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and was also named an "Outstanding CPC Member" by the Communist Party of China Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Committee.
Over her 13-year career as a prosecutor, Cao devoted herself fully to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of the parties involved. It was always Cao's belief that timely support to people concerned, sometimes with judicial aid funds, would help the recipients feel the care of the Party and the country, and experience the warmth of the law.
On the day before her death, Cao was busy helping a mountain villager surnamed Zhang and his family to gain judicial relief assistance. After Zhang was seriously injured in a work accident. Zhang’s family was heavily indebted to more than 700,000 yuan of medical expenses Cao tried her best to give the judicial aid funds before Spring Festival -- the most important traditional holiday for family reunion in China -- and helping the family regain the courage to face the misfortunes and move forward.
Cao embodied her care for the people in every case she handled, always dauntless and ready in settling matters with down-to-earth professional skills.
In the summer of 2021, soon after a maternity leave, Cao began to handle a petition case that had been backlogged for over 30 years. Within six months, Cao drove more than 2,000 kilometers back and forth to Hunan, Guangdong, and other places to make investigations and collect evidence. She produced eight volumes of nearly 600 pages of evidence materials and wrote a 70-page review report. Through public hearing of the case, she ultimately made the petitioner feel convinced and relieved.
Peng Shihua, a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress who participated in the public hearing, highly praised Cao's work as a prosecutor. "Through organizing public hearings and resorting to visible and audible forms, she clearly interpreted the law and achieved harmonious reconciliation between the parties involved, so that the petitioner was happy with the long-awaited outcome," said Peng.
Ziyuan, Cao's hometown, is one of the sources of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River water systems. But rampant illegal mining, deforestation and other criminal activities caused severe damage to the local ecological environment. "Prosecutors should also play a good role in caring for the lucid waters and lush mountains," Cao said.
In 2015, Cao organized a special activity to supervise the docketing of 11 criminal cases involving damage to environmental resources. She also promoted legal coordination work between the local procuratorate and administrative organs such as the forestry bureau and livestock and fisheries bureau. In November of the year, Cao came across an illegal sand mining case and after investigations, she proposed that the county public security organ should file the case, which was selected as one of the two outstanding cases of special supervision activities organized by Guangxi procuratorial organs in 2017.
Cao was called "prosecutor mother" by many teenagers for her attentive care. When dealing with cases involving minors, she would try her best to seek judicial aid for those who received rescue, helping them solve matters such as school transfers and reduction of tuition and accommodation fees. In April 2017, Cao made a recommendation to a local school and relevant administrations to strengthen campus safety inspection to address the risks and loopholes in the education and management of children who were left behind in the villages by their parents working in outside places.
Also passionate in giving a helping hand to poverty-stricken people, Cao was active in joining the paired-up assistance efforts and drawing plans to improve the well-being of the local people. "The national policies are so good, we need to spread their warmth to the people in need," she said.
In 2016, Cao volunteered to shoulder the targeted tasks of assisting three households located in a very remote village, providing them with practical solutions to difficulties such as pension subsidy applications and reimbursement of hospitalization expenses.
With Cao's support, Liu Hai, with a family of nine members, had been relocated into a new house that was much better than his former dilapidated wooden home in the village. "We sincerely thank our Sister Cao for helping lift us out of poverty," said Liu.
Serving as a prosecutor for 13 years, Cao had always been engaged in the local procuratorate's department handling various cases, a "frontline" section believed to have the busiest schedule and the most tiring workload. However, she had remained invariably optimistic, proactive, resolute and enthusiastic.
"She had used her life to interpret a prosecutor's loyalty, responsibility, fairness, and integrity as a CPC member," said Mao Zhonghua, secretary of the Leading Party Members' Group and chief prosecutor of the procuratorate of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
