Supreme inspection： strictly punish crimes and maintain the order of mining and utilization of mineral resources
□ Our reporter Zhang Hao
In recent years, the price of mineral resources has been rising due to strong market demand, and some lawless elements have illegally exploited the national mineral resources, which not only destroyed the national mineral resources and the management order in this field, but also caused damage to the ecological environment.
Today, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate released four typical cases of procuratorial organs punishing illegal mining of mineral resources according to law. The person in charge of the First Procuratorate of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate answered questions from the reporter of Rule of Law Daily on the overall situation of punishing illegal mining of mineral resources according to law, the characteristics of illegal sand mining crimes and the focus of future work.
Reporter: Mineral resources are an important material basis for economic and social development, and the development of mineral resources is related to the national economy and people’s livelihood and national security. What is the overall situation of procuratorial organs punishing the crime of stealing mineral resources according to law? What are the main measures and results?
Person in charge of the First Prosecutor’s Office: From 2019 to 2021, the national procuratorial organs approved the arrest of 8,210 cases with 15,253 people and prosecuted 10,561 cases with 25,649 people for illegal mining and destructive mining crimes, which effectively cracked down and shocked the crimes.
This kind of crime has many points, long lines and wide areas, and the means are refurbished and repeatedly banned. Procuratorial organs always regard the protection of mineral resources as a major political responsibility and an important political task, constantly strengthen coordination and linkage with courts, public security organs, natural resources and other departments, and work together to promote the continuous improvement of the level of mineral resources protection.
Procuratorial organs actively cooperated with public security organs to carry out special rectification actions in the field of natural resources, severely punished "sand tyrants" and "mine tyrants" according to law, and prosecuted 253 criminal cases involving 1960 people involved in illegal mining. Give full play to the advantages of procuratorial integration in handling cases, supervise and supervise major and difficult illegal mining cases, and designate different jurisdictions to ensure the quality of case handling. Insist on early intervention in difficult and complicated illegal mining cases, and put forward opinions on case characterization, legal application and fixed evidence to ensure a precise strike. Strengthen communication with the discipline inspection and supervision organs, transfer the "umbrella" clues in time, and ensure deep penetration.
On the other hand, the procuratorial organs pay more attention to recovering and confiscating illegal income, and guide the investigation organs to pursue the persons involved and find out the property involved simultaneously, effectively preventing criminals from transferring and hiding the assets involved in illegal mining, and using various means such as recovering and confiscating illegal income to completely destroy the economic foundation of illegal mining.
In handling cases, procuratorial organs give full play to the advantages of "criminal+public interest litigation" system. If criminal acts of destroying mineral resources cause damage to public interests, they shall file criminal incidental civil public interest litigation according to law, and at the same time, they shall be ordered to bear civil liability for compensation, restore the damaged ecological environment and earnestly safeguard environmental public interests.
In view of the management loopholes found in the competent departments of the industry in handling cases, the procuratorial organs issued procuratorial suggestions in time to promote source governance. Strictly implement the requirements of "whoever enforces the law and popularizes the law", strengthen policy propaganda and explain the law in combination with handling cases, and enhance the social awareness of protecting the ecological environment and mineral resources.
Reporter: In recent years, there have been many cases of illegal sand mining in inland rivers and oceans. What characteristics have the procuratorial organs found in handling these cases? In view of these situations, what experiences and practices have the procuratorial organs summed up in practice?
Person in charge of the First Prosecutor’s Office: Against the background of rising sand and gravel prices, crimes of illegally mining river sand and sea sand are on the rise. The characteristics of these cases are that fishermen or shipping practitioners are involved in many cases, and most of them are criminal gangs with tight internal organization and strong anti-detection ability. The illegal mining of river sand often threatens the ecological safety of water bodies, dike safety and navigation safety in waters. At the same time, the case revealed that the placer resource market needs to be standardized.
After the implementation of the Yangtze River Protection Law in March, 2021, a serious case of illegal exploitation of river sand occurred in the Yangtze River — — 32 people, including Zhang Moushan, illegally mined, and Ma Mouyu concealed and concealed the proceeds of crime.
Due to the large number of people involved, large geographical span and high social concern, in order to completely destroy the criminal group, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security jointly listed and supervised the case, efficiently fixed key evidence, and at the same time paid off the illegal income with all their efforts. One of the defendants who committed the crime again and had a criminal record of illegal mining was investigated for punitive damages in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Code, and the "seven inches" of this kind of profit-seeking crime was pinpointed, thus achieving the dual purposes of legal punishment and crime prevention.
At present, illegal sand mining has gradually spread from inland rivers to the ocean, and has formed a "mining — Yun — Sales "integrated black industrial chain. Pirates of sea sand and some shipping practitioners work together to commit crimes. They use the method of "separation of mining and transportation" and "selling immediately after mining" to commit crimes. The procuratorial organ handling the case actively guides the investigation organ to collect fixed evidence, and makes every effort to arrest the criminals in the interest chain of the crime of stealing sea sand. For the transportation, intermediary and purchasing personnel who take the initiative to put forward and strengthen their criminal determination in joint crimes, they shall be investigated for their criminal responsibility as accomplices of criminals who steal mineral resources, and according to the status and profit of participants at all levels, the principal and accessory offenders shall be accurately identified to ensure that they are punished as crimes.
In order to better improve the quality and efficiency of handling criminal cases against illegal exploitation of sea sand, procuratorial organs strengthened communication with investigation organs and issued documents to guide and standardize the investigation of cases in time, which laid a solid foundation for promoting the normalization and standardization of such cases.
Reporter: What measures will the procuratorial organs take to further strengthen the crackdown on the crime of stealing mineral resources?
Report to the 20th CPC National Congress, head of the First Prosecutor’s Office, pointed out that Chinese-style modernization is the modernization of harmonious coexistence between man and nature. Respecting nature, conforming to nature and protecting nature are the inherent requirements of building a socialist modern country in an all-round way. In the next step, the procuratorial organs will do a solid job in the procuratorial protection of mineral resources from various aspects.
Procuratorial organs will carry out in-depth special rectification actions in the field of natural resources and continue to severely punish crimes of stealing mineral resources. For major cases, designated jurisdiction, upgraded investigation, and assignment from different places are adopted, and "sand tyrants" and "mine tyrants" are severely punished according to law, forming a joint force to crack down. Adhere to the problem-oriented, make efforts to study and solve outstanding difficulties and problems in judicial handling by issuing and answering opinions, and do a good job in connecting and supporting laws. Actively perform legal supervision duties, further strengthen cooperation with public security organs, marine police agencies, natural resources, water conservancy and other departments, strengthen the connection between administrative law enforcement and criminal justice, and establish a liaison system for daily work. Unify law enforcement standards and applicable standards of laws, and strive to solve the problems of difficult evidence collection and identification of criminal cases that damage the ecological environment. Pay attention to strengthening the connection and coordination between criminal prosecution and public interest litigation, and pay attention to treating both the symptoms and the root causes in view of the limited means of supervision behind the crime of stealing mineral resources and the urgent need to standardize the placer resource market. Further increase the publicity of law popularization. Adhere to normalization and go into towns, mines and other areas to carry out publicity activities for popularizing law. Continue to expose typical cases, and carry out popularization of law by means of case interpretation, etc., to deter illegal and criminal acts.
Beijing, November 11 th