Ningbo Issued White Paper on Criminal Trials of Environment Resources Damage
- Details
- Category: Governmental News
- Published: Wednesday, 10 September 2014 14:42
Recently, Ningbo Intermediate People's Court issued White Paper on criminal Trials of Environment Resources Damage. According to the White Paper, between 2009 to 2013, Ningbo, two court concluded 200 criminal cases in destruction of environmental resources, involving 316 people. There was a substantial increase in environmental pollution cases of crime. Since October 2013, 56 people have been sentenced for environmental pollution, and five years before that, Ningbo’s two-level courts have trialed zero cases in this regard.
The White Paper has revealed that from 2009 to September 2013, Ningbo local courts and intermediary court have trialed zero cases in environmental pollution crimes. However, the fourth quarter of 2013 saw the sentencing of 4 people in 3 cases, and from January to July, 2014, the courts have concluded 43 cases involving 52 people
Chen Fengting, the chief judge of Criminal Court Two of Ningbo Intermediate Court, explained that in the past the threshold of committing the crime of environmental pollution is so high that it doesn’t constitute a crime until significant casualties or major property damage were caused. On June 2013, the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate introduced judicial interpretation of applicable law on the handling of criminal cases of environmental pollution, contributing to crime reduction and new standards of criminal charges on environmental pollution. For example, illegal discharges containing heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants exceeding the national (provincial) pollutant emission standards more than three times constitute a crime, disregarding whether or not the act results in casualties and property losses. The new judicial interpretation of environmental pollution has become a weapon to combat criminal acts, hence the substantial increase in such cases in the city's courts.
Since the end of 2013, the city of Ningbo started to carry out the fight against crime in terms of environmental pollution. Cases of environment pollution are being investigated and trialed in courts.
Such cases focus on the Yinzhou District, Yuyao City, Cixi City, and Fenghua City, Yinzhou Court handled 13 cases, Yuyao Court 12, Cixi Court 9, Fenghua court 8, Zhenhai, Beilun, Ninghai, Jiangbei four courts combined 4, each handled 1. 74% of the cases were investigated within a year before the crime started, two crimes were spotted nearly seven years after its initial crime act. Among 46 cases, 42 of them were investigated for discharging electroplating wastewater containing heavy metals exceeding three times more than the standard, two for illegal dumping of waste oil, one for exceeded heavy metals discharges of one company, one for the discharge of waste lead-acid battery waste acid. Court sentencing generally takes six months to a year and a half, and impose a fine between a few thousand dollars and several thousand dollars.
"For some less serious crimes and criminals on probation, we try apply injunction, prohibiting the offender from conducting the original work. A total of three cases in Yuyao were imposed the injunction." Chief judge Chen said.
