Recently, due to the burning of weeds, smoking, sacrifices, etc., caused by fires are prone to occur, in order to further do a good job in the popularization of forest fire prevention publicity, recently, the Pingtang County People's Court went to the place of the crime to hear three fire cases in the form of circuit trials, and invited local people's congress deputies, CPPCC members, village committee cadres, forest rangers and representatives of the masses to observe the trial, turning the trial scene into a "law popularization classroom" and promoting the concept of ecological justice to take root in the countryside.
Case I
At about 12 o'clock on February 18, 2024, Pan and his wife were sorting out the land in Kedu Town, Pingtang County. Due to the strong wind and dry weather on that day, the wind blew the ignited bud sparks to the nearby ridge, igniting weeds and causing forest fires. When Pan saw the fire, he immediately went to the village to call the people to help make the fire, and the fire was not extinguished until about 6 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. After verification, the burned area was 9.2946 hectares, including 5.2265 hectares of arbor woodland and 4.0681 hectares of shrub woodland. After trial, the court sentenced the defendant Pan to six months in prison for the crime of fire and ordered him to replant and replant the fire site.
Case II
At about 14:00 on March 23, 2024, defendant Shi and his brother planted corn in their own farmland in Kapu Township, Pingtang County, and because of their hard work, they rested and smoked on the ridge, and then did not extinguish the cigarette butts, and discarded them on the ridges at will, and the cigarette butts ignited the weeds next to the ridges. After Shi discovered the fire, he immediately extinguished the fire, but because the fire spread too fast, it could not be extinguished in time, and then he called the forest ranger and the public security organ for help, and the fire was extinguished at about 2 o'clock in the morning the next day. After verification, the total area burned was 6.9602 hectares, including 4.294 hectares of arbor forest land and 2.6662 hectares of shrub woodland. After trial, the court sentenced the defendant Shi to five months' detention for the crime of setting fire, and ordered him to replant and replant the fire site.
Case III
On the morning of February 20, 2024, the defendant Wang was doing farm work in his cultivated land when he accidentally caused a forest fire by burning weeds in the cultivated land. After verification, the burned area was 24.5099 hectares, including 11.2426 hectares of arbor forest land and 13.2426 hectares of shrub woodland. After trial, the court sentenced the defendant Wang to 10 months in prison for the crime of arson.
At the end of the trial, the judge combined with typical cases to carry out on-site legal popularization publicity, explained to the audience the harm of fire and burning mountains to the ecological environment and the possible legal consequences, reminded the general public not to use fire in the wild, and distributed legal publicity materials.
(Source: Pingtang Court)