How harmful is the illegal acquisition and sale of rare and endangered wild animals? On the morning of March 12, at the Laoshan District People's Procuratorate, the heads of dozens of hotels and catering enterprises in Laoshan District listened to the confession speech of Wu Moumou, a former colleague involved in the case, and also listened to a "three-dimensional" law popularization class delivered by multiple departments. Subsequently, Wu Moumou walked out of the procuratorate and sent a leaflet to five catering enterprises to popularize the legal knowledge of wildlife protection - which also means that the first case of punitive compensation for ecological and environmental damages using labor service compensation began to be implemented.
Formerly sold bear paws and cobras, now repent in public
On March 12, the procuratorial public interest litigation wildlife protection special topic law popularization activity and the application of labor compensation to perform punitive cases of ecological and environmental damage compensation were launched. "Due to the weak legal awareness and blind pursuit of economic benefits at that time, it caused irreparable damage to wildlife and the ecological environment... I hope that colleagues in the industry can take me as a warning, consciously operate in accordance with laws and regulations, and refuse to sell wild animal dishes. At the launching ceremony, Wu Moumou, the manager of a unit in Laoshan District, made a statement.
"The unit has purchased 3 Bengal cobras, 1 pangolin and 4 bear paws." According to the procurator, the court made a criminal judgment on the case of illegally purchasing and selling rare and endangered wild animals in accordance with the law, and Wu Moumou, who had sold steamed bear paws, was sentenced to a suspended sentence and fined. In January this year, the Qingdao Municipal People's Procuratorate filed another civil public interest lawsuit in accordance with the law. The court held a public trial and pronounced a judgment in court, ruling that Wu Moumou should compensate for the loss of wild animals and the loss of ecological environment service functions caused by his ecological damages, and at the same time bear punitive damages. Among them, some punitive damages require the defendant to bear it by providing compensation for ecological and environmental public welfare labor. This case has also become the first civil public interest litigation case handled by the national procuratorial organs to apply the labor service compensation method to bear punitive compensation liability for ecological and environmental damages after the official implementation of the Civil Code.
Similar to the "criminal attached to the people" public interest litigation, 15 cases have been filed in more than a year
Procuratorial public interest litigation is initiated by the people's procuratorate in accordance with legal procedures, and litigation cases in which individuals or organizations illegally infringe on the national interests and the societal public interest are mainly concentrated in the fields of ecological environment and resource protection, food and drug safety, protection of state-owned property, transfer of state-owned land use rights, and protection of the rights and interests of heroic martyrs. According to the procurator of the Laoshan District People's Procuratorate, before the introduction of the public interest litigation system, illegal and criminal acts that damage ecological and environmental resources or damage food and drug safety may only face administrative penalties or criminal penalties. But now that there is a public interest litigation system, these illegal and criminal acts will face full administrative, criminal and civil accountability.
Since January 1 this year, the Civil Code has been officially implemented, and the principle of ecological protection has become the basic principle of the Civil Code. Articles 1232 and 1235 clearly stipulate that ecological environmental damages and punitive damages may be compensated for. "Simply put, acts that damage the ecological environment and harm wildlife will lose money." Prosecutors told reporters that the above two clauses are called "green clauses" and have become the main legal basis for procuratorial organs to file ecological and environmental compensation. The reporter learned that from 2020 to the present, the Qingdao Municipal People's Procuratorate has filed 15 criminal incidental civil public interest lawsuits related to wild animals.
More than 30 hotels and catering enterprises in Laoshan District have taken legal popularization classes
After Wu Moumou's remorseful statement, the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court, qingdao Municipal People's Procuratorate, Laoshan District People's Procuratorate, Laoshan District Bureau of Justice and Laoshan District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau jointly held a special legal popularization activity, covering wildlife protection laws and regulations, common legal issues in the catering industry, the cost of illegal acts and other aspects. The responsible persons and managers of more than 30 hotels and catering enterprises in Laoshan District listened to the popularization of law lessons and frequently pulled out paper and pencil records.
"In recent years, the state has continuously increased the protection of wild animals, and carried out legislative protection from criminal, administrative, civil and other aspects. Through crackdowns in accordance with the law and publicity on the popularization of the law, a social consensus of everyone's responsibility for wildlife protection has gradually been formed. Zang Xuemei, chief procurator of the Laoshan District People's Procuratorate, said that when the procurator handled the case, he noticed that there were still "wild meat" on the menus of individual hotels and farmhouses, and the behavior of setting up nets to catch birds also occurred from time to time, and the illegal purchase and sale of wildlife products still existed. "All of you here are representatives of the catering industry in Laoshan District, which has made contributions to the development of Laoshan, and we hope that through everyone, we will drive the entire hotel catering industry to operate legally and standardize the operation, consciously resist the illegal trade of wild animals, and make efforts and contributions to the ecological protection of Laoshan And the good ecological environment of our own homes." Zang Xuemei raised hopes for the heads and managers of hotel and catering enterprises present here.
Execution: She gave the hotel a door-to-door legal leaflet in lieu of compensation
According to the court judgment in January this year, the unit should compensate 83,000 yuan for the loss of wild animals and 907,500 yuan for the loss of ecological environment service functions caused by the ecological damages; at the same time, it must also bear punitive damages of 99,050 yuan, of which 74,126 yuan is paid within a time limit, and 24,924 yuan is borne by the defendant designating two people to provide 60 days of ecological and environmental public welfare labor. At about 10:00 a.m., after the lecture, Wu Moumou, witnessed by the relevant staff, delivered the wildlife protection law popularization leaflet to 5 catering enterprises in Laoshan District, and completed part of the labor compensation in his first punitive damages. According to the plan, Wu will continue to distribute leaflets to 120 catering businesses within the jurisdiction of Laoshan District, widely publicize the theme of forbidden wild animals, and popularize legal knowledge of wildlife protection. The reporter learned that the Laoshan District Justice Bureau will work with the procuratorial organs to record, feedback and supervise the development of labor compensation. After the completion of the labor compensation, the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court will make a decision on whether to terminate the labor compensation on the basis of combining the evaluation opinions and supervision opinions of all parties.
"The Qingdao Municipal People's Procuratorate will take the successful handling of this case as an opportunity to continuously strengthen communication and coordination with the courts, public security organs and non-governmental public interest organizations, accelerate the construction of an alternative labor compensation mechanism for ecological environment and resource protection cases, and initially form a relatively complete system and safeguard measures." Li Wenqing, director of the Eighth Procuratorial Department of the Qingdao Municipal People's Procuratorate, introduced that in the next step, the procuratorial organs will continue to promote the "Qingdao experience", give full play to the dual role of the punitive compensation system in curbing illegal acts and preventing warning education, supervise and urge defendants in similar cases to participate in ecological environmental protection, prevent the occurrence of the same type of damage, promote green development, and promote harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
Guanhai News/Qingdao Evening News Chief Reporter Liu Zhuoyi