Strictly abide by the red line of cultivated land protection
Strengthen the foundation of food security
-- The person in charge of the Eighth Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate answered a reporter's question on typical cases of public interest litigation procuratorial prosecution on cultivated land
Recently, the Supreme People's Procuratorate released typical cases of public interest litigation for cultivated land protection procuratorates, guiding procuratorial organs at all levels to increase case-handling efforts, improve the quality and efficiency of case-handling, and help protect the red line of 1.8 billion mu of cultivated land. The person in charge of the Eighth Procuratorate of the Supreme People's Procuratorate answered reporters' questions on this.
I. What are the main considerations for the release of typical cases of cultivated land protection procuratorial public interest litigation?
A: First, we should cherish the "greatness of the country" and take the initiative to serve the overall interests of the party and the central center of the country. In his report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that "the foundation of food security should be consolidated in all aspects" and "firmly adhere to the red line of 1.8 billion mu of cultivated land", and at the second meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Commission held in July this year, he stressed that "cultivated land is the lifeblood of grain production" and "effectively strengthen the protection of cultivated land and make every effort to improve the quality of cultivated land". At present, the national conditions of the mainland with more people and less arable land per capita have not changed, the problems of "non-grain" and "non-agriculture" of cultivated land are still prominent, and the protection of cultivated land is related to food security, which is the "great power of the country". Procuratorial organs across the country have always thoroughly implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important expositions and instructions on cultivated land protection, insisted on taking the protection of cultivated land resources as a key area for handling public interest litigation, and used the procuratorial function of public interest litigation to firmly uphold the political responsibility of firmly guarding the red line of cultivated land, handled a number of public interest litigation cases in the field of cultivated land protection in accordance with the law, and implemented the strictest cultivated land protection system to the letter, effectively ensuring food security.
The second is to focus on the hot spots of people's livelihood and actively respond to the concerns of the people. The protection of cultivated land is a basic project for people's livelihood, which is related to the people's "money bags" and "rice bags". In response to illegal occupation of cultivated land that harms cultivated land resources and causes damage to the ecological environment, procuratorial organs at all levels have firmly established the people-centered development thinking and actively responded to the "urgent, difficult, and anxious" problems that the people are concerned about. For example, the Suxian District Procuratorate of Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, urged "returning grass to farming" and at the same time promoted the implementation of agricultural economies of scale by the local town governments to solve the problem of villagers' subsequent enrichment. The Shanghai Fengxian District Procuratorate accurately urged the administrative organs to do a good job in rectifying the problem of illegal occupation of cultivated land and the dust and noise pollution caused by the surrounding people for many years.
II. What are the main characteristics of the typical cases of cultivated land protection procuratorial public interest litigation released this time?
A: First, there are various types of farmland violations. This batch of cases includes 10 administrative public interest litigation cases involving the supervision and protection of basic farmland by the People's Procuratorate of Tangyin County, Henan Province, covering a variety of illegal destruction of cultivated land, such as construction units failing to strip off excellent cultivation layers, invasion of alien species destroying black soil resources, "non-grain" and "non-agriculture" of cultivated land planted on cultivated land, illegal soil extraction to destroy cultivated land resources, illegal occupation of cultivated land for engineering construction projects, and engaging in production and operation. It reflects that local procuratorial organs have identified the entry point for cultivated land protection in light of local realities, and realized accurate supervision of illegal destruction of cultivated land.
Second, coordinate with administrative organs and give play to the joint force of cultivated land protection. In judicial practice, most of the types of cases handled by procuratorial organs in the field of farmland protection are administrative public interest litigation cases, and when handling administrative public interest litigation cases, procuratorial organs, while giving full play to their legal supervision functions and promoting administrative organs to administer according to law, pay attention to strengthening coordination and cooperation with administrative departments and giving play to the joint force of cultivated land protection. After issuing pre-litigation procuratorial recommendations to administrative departments and territorial governments, most administrative organs achieved rectification and reform before litigation, achieving win-win, win-win and win-win case-handling results, which also highlighted the institutional advantages of procuratorial public interest litigation supervision and coordinated litigation.
The third is to dare to gnaw "hard bones" and dare to embody judicial value guidance with the confirmation of "litigation". Where the illegal conduct lasts for a long time or the administrative organ still does not correct the procuratorial recommendation after the procuratorial recommendation is formulated, the procuratorial organ rises to the challenge and promptly files an administrative or civil public interest lawsuit, reflecting the guidance of judicial value with the confirmation of "litigation", strengthening the rigidity of procuratorial supervision, promoting administration in accordance with law, prompting the offender to repair damaged cultivated land, and strengthening public interest protection. For example, the Tangyin County Procuratorate in Henan Province has neither replied nor rectified the situation after issuing the procuratorial recommendation, and has promoted the town government to perform its duties in accordance with the law and comprehensively rectify the situation after issuing the procuratorial recommendation, and achieved good supervision results.
The fourth is to explore scientific and technological empowerment. Procuratorial organs make full use of various technical means such as big data screening, satellite remote sensing, and aerial photography by drones to carry out procuratorial supervision of cultivated land protection at stages such as discovery of leads, investigation and evidence collection. For example, when the procuratorate of Jilin Province handled a series of cases of ragweed invasion and destruction of black soil resources, it made full use of various technical means such as big data screening, satellite remote sensing, and drone aerial photography to carry out its work. In view of the problems of widespread spread of ragweed and difficulty in comparing governance effects, a big data platform for public interest litigation supervision of ragweed governance model was built, integrating and transforming information such as images and figures related to ragweed governance, and realizing the analysis and judgment of case clues and governance effectiveness through the screening and collision of associated data.
Fifth, the effect of case extension is good. Local procuratorial organs can actively perform their duties when handling cases in the field of cultivated land protection, and on the basis of handling individual cases, take the initiative to extend their case-handling tentacles and build a multi-level and all-round pattern of cultivated land protection. For example, after the Songming County Procuratorate in Yunnan Province discovered through a farmland protection case that the land involved had not paid cultivated land occupation tax, it urged the tax department to collect taxes and late payment fees of more than 13.1 million yuan. The Jilin Provincial Procuratorate submitted legislative suggestions to the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress on the infringement of black soil caused by the invasion of alien species, and promoted the improvement of legislation.
III. What are the good experiences and practices of procuratorial organs in carrying out public interest litigation in the field of farmland protection?
A: First, we should take special activities as a starting point to strengthen judicial protection of cultivated land. Local procuratorial organs have strengthened public interest litigation work on land resources protection, and combined with the actual conditions of their respective regions, have carried out special activities for cultivated land protection with local characteristics. The procuratorial organs of Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Jilin and Hulunbuir in Inner Mongolia have successively deployed special supervision activities on "black soil protection" to serve the implementation of the national food security strategy by supervising the handling of cases, rectifying illegal and indiscriminate construction, indiscriminate occupation of cultivated land, destruction and utilization of cultivated land, and other illegal acts that destroy black soil. The procuratorate of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region jointly launched a special public interest litigation operation of "joining hands to control chaos and fully protect resources" to effectively curb the occurrence of illegal acts such as encroachment and destruction of cultivated land and forest land. The procuratorate of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has carried out special activities to strengthen the protection of farmland soil in response to the problem of agricultural residual film pollution.
Second, adhere to coordination and cooperation to form a joint force for cultivated land protection. On December 31, 2020, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly issued the Pilot Program for Strengthening Collaboration and Cooperation between Natural Resources Authorities and Procuratorial Organs in the Field of Land Law Enforcement Investigation, which carried out a one-year pilot work in the field of land law enforcement investigation and punishment in four provinces. On the basis of summarizing the experience of the pilot, on February 1, 2023, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the Notice on Establishing a Coordination and Cooperation Mechanism between Public Interest Litigation Procuratorial and Land Law Enforcement Investigation and Punishment, extending the coordination mechanism to the whole country. Local procuratorial organs and local natural resources departments have strengthened coordination, strengthening coordination in daily liaison, joint meetings, case information sharing, major information reports, joint special actions, etc., through the establishment of a linkage mechanism between land resources administrative law enforcement and public interest litigation prosecution, and a coordination mechanism for the work of "field chief + procurator general", so as to jointly help standardize administrative law enforcement of cultivated land resources and normalize procuratorial supervision.
The third is to solve the problem of restoration and explore the filing of "ecological restoration" civil public interest litigation. In handling cases such as illegal occupation of cultivated land, while supervising the performance of duties by administrative organs in accordance with the law, the procuratorial organs adhere to the concept of restorative judicial case handling, explore the filing of "ecological restoration" civil public interest lawsuits, require the infringer to carry out land reclamation, or have the infringer bear the cost of restoration and have a third party professionally repair it, to ensure that the damaged land is effectively restored.
IV. In the next step, what measures will the procuratorate take to promote the deepening of public interest litigation in the field of farmland protection?
A: In the next step, the procuratorial organs will continue to deeply implement Xi Jinping Thought on Ecological Civilization and Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, plan and promote the procuratorial supervision of cultivated land protection in the overall situation of economic and social development, promote the implementation of the strictest cultivated land protection system, and effectively ensure food security. In view of problems such as illegal occupation of high-standard farmland construction, substandard project quality, inadequate post-construction management and protection, illegal interception and misappropriation of construction funds, "non-agriculture" and "non-grain", the Supreme People's Procuratorate took the initiative to communicate and coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and issued a notice on August 19 this year to jointly deploy and carry out the special work of "procuratorial public interest litigation to help high-standard farmland construction", thoroughly investigate and rectify prominent problems in the field of high-standard farmland construction, serve to improve agricultural production conditions and ecological environment, and enhance grain production capacity. The Supreme People's Procuratorate will pay close attention to the work and special activities of local procuratorial organs related to farmland protection, strengthen guidance, solve difficulties in grassroots case-handling practice, summarize and popularize successful experiences, and continuously improve working mechanisms. Local procuratorial organs should continue to increase the intensity of handling cases involving cultivated land, base themselves on the work requirements of public interest litigation procuratorial emphasis on highlighting "precision" and "standardization", accurately grasp the scope of application, targets, conditions, and procedures of procuratorial recommendations in the field of cultivated land protection, attach great importance to the demonstration and reasoning of procuratorial suggestions, earnestly strengthen the standardization of procuratorial recommendations, ensure that procuratorial recommendations point out problems accurately, interpret the law with high quality, and make rectification suggestions practical, and achieve the rigidity of procuratorial recommendations with their own excellent quality. For some cases in which pre-litigation procuratorial suggestions cannot solve problems and have exemplary and leading significance, we must dare to reflect the guidance of judicial value with the confirmation of "litigation", and contribute procuratorial power to guarding the red line of 1.8 billion mu of cultivated land