---- He states that procuratorial organs will adhere to Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law as guidelines, and strive to fulfill their duties with higher quality to serve the building of a Beautiful China
Ying Yong, Secretary of Party Leadership Group and Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), presents a report on procuratorial work regarding environmental protection and resource conservation to the sixth meeting of the 14th National People's Congress Standing Committee on Oct 21.
Ying Yong, Secretary of Party Leadership Group and Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), presented a report on procuratorial work regarding environmental protection and resource conservation to the sixth meeting of the 14th National People's Congress Standing Committee on Oct 21.
"Building an ecological civilization is vital to sustain the Chinese nation's development and procuratorial organs play a crucial role in this work," Ying said. He emphasized that procuratorial organs will always follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, adhere to Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, prioritize the protection of the environment and resources and give full play to the four major procuratorial functions to deepen the judicial protection of ecological civilization, in a bid to fulfill procuratorial duties with higher quality, contribute to the building of a Beautiful China, and make significant contributions to the country's development and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
"Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization provides the fundamental guidance for the development of ecological civilization in the new era," said Ying, adding that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has prioritized ecological civilization as part of efforts to advance the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy in a coordinated manner. With unprecedented determination and efforts, groundbreaking work has resulted in historic, transformative and comprehensive achievements in ecological conservation, which marks a significant milestone in the Party and the country's historic progress and changes in the new era, Ying said.
According to Ying, in the past five years, procuratorial organs across the country have made continuous efforts in strict adherence to the rule of law, fully performing their functions of supervising litigation, promoting law enforcement and judicial effectiveness in the field of environment and resources, implementing punitive compensation, ensuring effective restorative justice, and standardizing legal application. They advanced cross-departmental collaboration, improved the integrated performance mechanism and social support mechanism, and enhanced professional expertise, he said.
From 2018 to June 2023, the procuratorates throughout the country handled a total of 823,000 cases of various environment and resource-related offenses, and prosecuted 43,000 individuals involved in environmental pollution crimes and 351,000 individuals involved in crimes against resource protection.
In the same period, they dealt with 388,000 administrative public interest litigation cases and 59,000 civil public interest litigation cases in the field of ecological environment and resource protection.
From 2018 to June 2023, in dealing with environment and resource-related cases that should have been filed but weren't, and cases that should not have been filed but were, the procuratorates throughout the country urged the public security organs to file 9,543 cases and withdraw 9,114 cases. The procuratorial organs have filed 1,242 appeals regarding criminal rulings, 53 appeals regarding civil rulings, and 22 appeals regarding administrative rulings that are considered wrong.
Since 2018, 27 provincial-level Party committees and governments have issued opinions supporting the procuratorial work of public interest litigation, and 29 provincial-level people's congress standing committees have issued decisions to strengthen such work in the field of ecological environment and resource protection. The SPP has issued 20 judicial explanations and interpretative documents regarding environment and resource-related procuratorial work, published 18 guiding cases, and compiled 424 typical cases along with case analyses for environmental sanitation-related crimes to provide guidance for and standardize case handling.
Noting that China's ecological civilization development is still in a critical period, Ying said although the prosecution work on protecting the environment and resources has made progress, challenges remain. Over the next five years and targeting a Beautiful China goal by 2035, the procuratorial organs will fulfill their supervision functions in a comprehensive manner, according to Ying. They will enhance their political positions, ensure effective case handling, improve work quality and efficiency, strengthen collaboration, and enhance performance capabilities, he said. They will also promote judicial protection of ecological civilization with a broader vision, stronger determination, and more practical measures, he added.
Ying suggested speeding up the compilation of an ecological environment law, which would provide a more sufficient legal foundation for law enforcement and justice in this area, and further improve the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics. He also urged legislation on procuratorial public interest litigation, and translating the vivid practices and original achievements of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law in the field of public interest protection into legal terms and institutions. Furthermore, he emphasized the need to further improve the mechanism for coordination between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice in environment and resource-related matters.
