Chinese prosecutors have been urged to play a bigger role in the supervision of public interest litigation against the illegal consumption of wild animals to better protect wildlife and ecology, China's top procuratorate said.
The Supreme People's Procurator ate (SPP) highlighted a series of cases relating to the illegal wildlife trade after the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak, which is believed to have originated from wild animals. The body has guided relevant provincial prosecutors to solve them through public interest litigation, according to Zhang Xueqiao, deputy procurator-general of the SPP.
Public interest litigation covers environmental protection, food and drug safety, the preservation of state assets and the transfer of land rights under Chinese laws.
Poaching and trafficking have left most species of pangolin on the verge of extinction. /VCG
The laws allow prosecutors to initiate lawsuits to further ensure the public interest against administrators or individuals in an effort to pressure them into correcting improper behavior.
Under the laws, prosecutors can also send pre-litigation suggestions to administrative departments before they initiate such lawsuits. If the agencies fail to rectify the problems, litigation will be launched.
"Wild animal protection belongs to the field of environmental protection, because wildlife as a resource also relates to the environmental and ecological security of the areas in which they they live," Zhang said, adding that handling such cases via public interest litigation could improve legal efficiency as prosecutors are in a better position than individuals or organizations in investigations.
He said the SPP had ordered prosecuting authorities to tighten supervision on wildlife-related illegal activities and lax law enforcement by sending procuratorial suggestions or launching public interest litigation to strictly implement a recent decision on banning the consumption of wild animals.
On Feb 24, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress – the country's top legislature – made the decision to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade and comprehensively ban the consumption of wild animals.
The decision, with immediate effect, called for tough penalties for the hunting, trading and transportation of protected wild animals, as well as wild terrestrial animals hunted, traded or transported for purposes of consumption.
In one case, for example, prosecutors from Yingtan, Jiangxi Province, sent a pre-litigation suggestion to the city's forestry bureau in March 2018 after the administration was reportedly ignoring two people who were illegally transporting wild animals at a railway station. The bureau quickly issued administrative punishment against the two people and organized the city's relevant administrations, including the forest police and market regulation departments, to conduct inspections in farmers markets, restaurants, railway and bus stations and on highways.
Zhang said the epidemic has helped the public and authorities reach an agreement on fighting wildlife-related illegal activities while protecting such animals.
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