□ Our reporter Shi Fei

A paper company in Kunming, Yunnan, was caught on the spot by administrative law enforcement staff when it discharged production wastewater directly into Mantis River (the only outlet of Dianchi Lake) through a privately installed secret pipe. Because it involves environmental pollution and damage to social public interests, relying on the "River (Lake) Chief + Prosecutor General" cooperation mechanism, the River and Lake Chief Office of Xishan District, Kunming City reported the situation to the Xishan District People's Procuratorate.

After receiving the report, the Xishan District Procuratorate considered that the company might be suspected of committing the crime of polluting the environment, so it conducted case filing supervision in accordance with the law, and formed a joint criminal prosecution and public interest litigation prosecution team to promptly intervene and guide the investigation, and jointly carry out public interest litigation investigation and evidence collection. Finally, the Xishan District Procuratorate filed a criminal and civil public interest lawsuit with the court, requesting that the company and its legal representative Huang A and the person directly responsible Li be held criminally responsible for the crime of polluting the environment, and ordered the paper company to bear ecological environmental damage compensation of 10.815021 million yuan and appraisal and testing fees of 129,500 yuan, totaling 10.944521 million yuan, and the company's three shareholders bear joint and several liability for compensation.

Recently, a reporter from Legal Daily learned from the People's Procuratorate of Yunnan Province that since the Standing Committee of the Yunnan Provincial People's Congress reviewed and passed the "Decision on Strengthening the Public Interest Litigation Work of Procuratorial Organs" (hereinafter referred to as the "Decision") in September 2019, the provincial procuratorates have closely focused on the overall work of being the vanguard of ecological civilization construction, widely publicized and conscientiously implemented the "Decision". Over the past three years, a total of 27,481 public interest litigation cases have been filed and handled. Through case handling, 24,800 acres of polluted and damaged forest land and illegally occupied cultivated land have been supervised for restoration, 95,500 acres of polluted water areas have been cleaned up, 87,000 tons of illegally stacked domestic garbage and production solid waste have been recovered and cleaned up, 797 million yuan of state-owned land use rights transfer fees have been recovered, and 373 million yuan of state-owned property and rights and interests have been supervised for protection and recovery, using public interest litigation to protect a better life.

Continued efforts to protect the ecological environment

"Ecological environment and resource protection are both the traditional statutory areas of procuratorial public interest litigation and the largest area of procuratorial public interest litigation." Shi Jianbang, deputy chief procurator of the Yunnan Provincial People's Procuratorate, said that in recent years, the Yunnan procuratorial organs have placed public interest litigation in the field of ecological environment in a prominent position and made plans and arrangements as the top priority of case handling, adhering to the concept of win-win, multi-win and win-win, and promoting the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands and deserts.

In response to forest-related crimes such as illegal logging and deforestation, the Yunnan procuratorial organs, while filing criminal prosecutions, filed incidental civil public interest litigation in accordance with the law, which was heard by the same trial organization of the People's Court, achieving the coordinated pursuit of criminal responsibility and public interest damage responsibility of offenders at the lowest judicial cost, and promoting offenders to repair the damaged ecological environment. For illegal occupation of forest land such as construction without approval, less approval and more construction, which do not constitute a crime, in addition to issuing procuratorial recommendations to administrative organs that exercise their powers illegally or fail to act, and urging them to perform their supervisory duties in accordance with the law, civil public interest litigation is initiated in accordance with the law or compensation rights holders are supported to conduct consultations on compensation for ecological and environmental damage, so as to urge the parties to assume ecological restoration responsibilities.

At the same time, focusing on the protection of the red line of cultivated land, focusing on the "non-agriculturalization" of cultivated land, illegal occupation of land, and the management of tailings ponds and the improvement of rural living environment, the public interest litigation case handling efforts have been intensified, and a total of 3,400 cases involving land have been handled, urging the recovery and reclamation of 6,460 mu of cultivated land that has been illegally changed in use and occupied. In view of the fact that Yunnan is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and other water systems, the awareness of "upstream responsibility" has been continuously strengthened, the work deployment of "river (lake) chief + procurator general" has been fully implemented, and the coordination and linkage with water conservancy departments has been strengthened to help solve problems such as obstruction of river flooding, shoreline protection and water ecological damage, and promote the benign interaction between water-related administrative law enforcement and procuratorial public interest litigation, so as to provide legal protection for "a river of clear water flowing out of Yunnan".

Focus on people's livelihood hotspots to protect food safety

A food wholesaler in Lancang County arbitrarily dumped expired bottled beverages that had accumulated due to poor sales during the epidemic directly into drains or toilets for disposal, posing a risk of environmental pollution.

After investigation and verification, the People's Procuratorate of Lancang County held a public hearing and a procuratorial recommendation announcement and delivery meeting, and delivered procuratorial recommendations to the relevant administrative agencies, suggesting that they strengthen cooperation, actively perform their duties, and properly dispose of expired beverages. At the same time, the procuratorial recommendations were promptly copied to the Standing Committee of the County People's Congress and actively accepted supervision by the People's Congress.

After receiving the procuratorial recommendations, the relevant administrative agencies actively performed their duties and jointly convened a number of beverage wholesale companies to dispose of expired food and beverages in batches. A total of more than 1,200 boxes of expired beverages were treated and discharged in compliance with standards through sewage treatment facilities. Plastic bottles, metal cans, cartons, etc. for packaging beverages were recycled and reused at market prices.

In recent years, the provincial procuratorate has strictly implemented the "four most stringent" requirements for food and drugs, strengthened the linkage and cooperation with the public security, market supervision and other departments and consumer protection associations, and actively organized special supervision actions for public interest litigation while strictly punishing crimes that endanger food and drug safety in accordance with the law. A total of 6,431 public interest litigation cases in the field of food and drugs have been filed and handled, promoting the improvement of the food and drug safety governance system.

In response to hidden dangers such as protective isolation facilities, warning signs, and picnics around water sources at drinking water sources, the provincial procuratorate has actively carried out special public interest litigation actions, urged relevant departments to perform their duties in accordance with the law, and eliminated drinking water safety hazards. Focusing on issues such as incomplete information disclosure of takeaway stores, discrepancies between physical store addresses and online disclosures, and irregular packaging of takeaway foods, the functional departments are urged to conduct online and offline inspections and supervision, and increase the traceability governance, system governance, and long-term governance in the field of food safety.

Adhere to actively and steadily expand the scope of case handling

Shi Jianbang told reporters that Yunnan Procuratorate, centering on the overall situation of economic and social development in the province, has continued to focus on traditional statutory key areas that seriously infringe on the public interest and have strong public complaints, while conscientiously implementing the decision-making and deployment of "expanding the scope of public interest litigation cases". According to the authorization of the Decision, guided by the needs of the people, it has strengthened judicial protection of public interests in new areas, and has filed 6,242 public interest litigation cases in new areas.

In response to hidden dangers such as endangering railway operation safety, hazardous chemicals supervision, fire management in urban commercial areas, and supervision of flammable and explosive items, the provincial procuratorate has played the advantages of integrated procuratorial case handling, urged administrative organs with safety production supervision responsibilities to perform their duties in accordance with the law, eliminated and prevented major safety hazards and infringement risks, and prevented and reduced safety accidents to the greatest extent.

Yunnan Procuratorate has filed 624 cases around network infringement and illegal collection, use, and sale of citizens' personal information, which damage national interests and social public interests, and explored promoting industry rectification and traceability governance through individual case handling to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. We have promoted the system of "four lawsuits in one" for minors, including criminal, civil, administrative and public interest lawsuits, and the juvenile prosecution department has centralized the handling of 599 public interest lawsuits involving the protection of minors' rights and interests. We have strengthened the protection of the rights and interests of the elderly, and handled 230 public interest lawsuits involving the safety of elderly food, health products, "Xiao" brand sanitary products and false advertising.

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