days ago, the "Supervising and Protecting the Yellow River Wetlands Administrative Public Interest Litigation Case" handled by the Xiangfu District Procuratorate of Kaifeng City was rated as a typical case by the Supreme People's Procuratorate. This is the third public interest litigation case involving water and soil handled by the court in recent years, which has been rated as a typical case by the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Henan Provincial Procuratorate. In recent years, the Xiangfu District Procuratorate has insisted on case handling as the center and actively fulfilled its public interest litigation supervision responsibilities, contributing important procuratorial strength to help rural revitalization.
Ancient canal is revitalized
Sui and Tang Grand Canal is one of the components of China's Grand Canal , Tongji Canal is a section of the main trunk of the Sui and Tang Grand Canal, and the Kaifeng Chenliu section of the Sui and Tang Grand Canal (Tongji Canal) is the only old canal preserved on the ground in the Henan section of the Tongji Canal to date.
In May 2020, the Xiangfu District Procuratorate of Kaifeng City carried out a special investigation in accordance with the requirements of the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Henan Provincial Procuratorate on comprehensively investigating clues in public welfare protection cases of Grand Canal . By visiting relevant administrative agencies and experts and scholars, the institute, in conjunction with the cultural relics protection department, checked the current preservation status of the canal road, and conducted immediate monitoring of the water quality of the canal. It was found that the Kaifeng Chenliu section of the Grand Canal (Tongji Canal) was about 6.8 kilometers long, spanning 3 townships and 8 villages. Over the years, due to the lack of effective supervision by relevant departments, 5,220 acres of rivers were arbitrarily occupied by surrounding villagers. The phenomena of digging sand and soil, fertilizing and farming, and dumping of garbage have been continuously prominent, resulting in varying degrees of damage to the rivers, river embankments and three historical relics irrigation stations, seriously damaged the value of canal cultural relics, and the public interests of the state and society have been infringed.
In June 2020, on the basis of ascertaining the facts of the case in accordance with the law and clarifying regulatory responsibilities, the Xiangfu District Procuratorate issued a procuratorial recommendation to the District Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Television and Tourism, suggesting that it strengthen cultural relics supervision measures and implement protection and restoration of the river channels, river embankments and historical relics irrigation stations in the Chenliu section of the Grand Canal. After the procuratorial recommendation was issued, the court communicated and consulted with relevant administrative agencies many times to promote the comprehensive rectification of the Kaifeng Chenliu section of the Grand Canal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties (Tongji Canal). The District Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Tourism jointly deployed river cleaning work with the environmental protection department to promptly remove garbage and debris in the river; jointly carried out special crackdown and control activities for the digging of sand and soil in the river embankment; popularized and promoted the cultural relics protection law to villagers along the section.
After joint efforts, the river garbage in the Chenliu section of the Grand Canal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties (Tongji Canal) has been completely cleaned up, and villagers in three towns along the route have returned the land occupied on both sides of the river.
"The management of the Grand Canal cannot be separated from the support of the procuratorate. Now the water quality of the Grand Canal has improved greatly compared to before, and the illegal factories around the river have also been suspended and are waiting to be demolished." On the bank of the canal, the deputy director of the District Culture, Radio, Film and Television Bureau said.
In July 2021, in order to fully grasp the implementation of protection and rectification, enhance the rigidity of prosecutorial suggestions, and ensure that the prosecutorial suggestions are implemented with great success. The police officers of the court and the heads of relevant units went to the Chenliu section of the Grand Canal of the Sui and Tang Dynasties to conduct a "look back" on the rectification and implementation of the prosecutor's suggestions.
"When the 70 million yuan special funds allocated by the state to be in place, construction can be started immediately. By that time, our Grand Canal will have a new look!" said the deputy director of the District Culture, Radio, Film and Television Bureau excitedly.
In order to fundamentally solve the problem of cultural relics protection in the Chenliu section of the Grand Canal, the Xiangfu District Procuratorate actively urged and assisted the District Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Television and Tourism to report to prepare the "Grand Canal Heritage Protection Plan" and the "Grand Canal Protection and Utilization Plan", and is currently actively organizing and implementing it.
This case was rated as a "Typical Case of the Grand Canal Public Welfare Protection Supervision Activities" by the Henan Provincial Procuratorate on October 29, 2020. On June 3, 2021, the Grand Canal Public Interest Litigation Procuratorate Forum hosted by the Supreme People's Procuratorate was held in Yangzhou, Jiangsu. The meeting released typical cases of public interest litigation protection of the procuratorate's agency, which was selected.
Training field restores the original scale
"The country cannot be defenseless for a day, and the army cannot be prepared for a day." The improvement of the combat effectiveness of the troops cannot be separated from strict regular training. As a basic element to ensure the combat effectiveness of the troops, how should the training ground be solved if it is occupied?
In April 2020, when the Henan Provincial Procuratorate and the Zhengzhou Military Procuratorate jointly carried out the "Special Supervision Activities for Public Interest Litigation to Protect the Environment around the Military Camp", it was found that a training ground in Bian was occupied by local villagers. After research and consultation, it was decided that the military and local governments jointly launched an investigation.
After investigation, in 1950, the Henan Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government allocated a total of 3,500 mu of land at the junction of Yuwangtai District and Xiangfu District to the troops for military training, including more than 1,200 mu of land and 200 mu of state-owned forest land in Fancun Township, Xiangfu District. However, as nearby villagers plant crops, dig fish ponds, plant trees, and wires in the training ground, the number of obstacles in the site has increased year by year, resulting in the continuous reduction of the applicable area of the training ground to 700 acres, which seriously affected the normal training of the troops. In April 2021, the Xiangfu District Procuratorate of Kaifeng City designated the Kaifeng City Xiangfu District Procuratorate to formally file a case against the "Administrative Public Interest Litigation Cases of the Comprehensive Training Base of the Forces stationed in Bian".
"The interests of the military are of no small matter. The top priority is to solve the legal issues in national defense security and social stability. These issues must not be allowed to involve the energy of the troops and affect the preparation for war." At the joint meeting of the prosecutors of the court, Dai Chaohui, the procurator general of the court, asked the public interest litigation police officers to carefully study the guiding and typical cases related to the military released by the Supreme People's Procuratorate to broaden their ideas for handling cases.
In order to solve the problem of encroachment of military training grounds as soon as possible, the procurator general personally led the team to the training ground for on-site inspections many times, fixed the evidence by taking photos on the spot, making investigation records , etc., determining the number of mu of cultivated land, the number of fish ponds and the length of private wires, and timely reporting the progress of the case to the district party committee and government.
With the support of the regional committee and district government and the superior court, the court has held many joint meetings of , attended by the District Natural Resources Bureau, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, Fancun Township Government and other units, and discussed and resolved issues such as land rights confirmation, site boundaries, confidentiality and training safety, and military-civilian disputes involving the comprehensive training ground one by one.
With the cooperation of multiple parties, a total of 230 mu of fish ponds were filled in the comprehensive training ground, 45,772 trees were moved, 3 kilometers of underground wires were buried, 522 graves were relocated, 15,200 square meters of illegal buildings were demolished, 6 kilometers of fences were built, 7 kilometers of roads were built, and more than 2,000 mu of land were leveled. On June 11, 2021, at the military and local public interest litigation consultation meeting, it was unanimously agreed that the problems left over from the comprehensive training ground were basically solved, the rectification was effective, and the legitimate rights and interests of the military were protected. The successful handling of this case is an innovative move by the military and local procuratorate to fully play the public interest litigation function of the procuratorate and serve to prepare for war. It was also rated as a typical case by PLA Military Procuratorate .
On December 4, 2021, in accordance with the spirit of the " Opinions on Strengthening the Cooperation of Public Interest Litigation in Military and Civil Procuratorates" jointly issued by the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Central Military Commission, the Xiangfu District Procuratorate of Kaifeng City and Zhengzhou Military Procuratorate came to a certain department stationed in Bian to carry out the "Military and Civil Cooperation Symposium and Signing Ceremony of the Constitution's Military and Civil Cooperation in Military-related Public Interest Litigation". The Xiangfu District Procuratorate and the troops stationed in Bian jointly formulated and signed the "Military-civilian Co-construction Agreement", clarifying the specific content of military-related public interest litigation cooperation, formulating specific measures from the scope of cooperative cases, transfer of clues, investigation and evidence collection, and establishing working mechanisms such as daily liaison, joint meetings, and work publicity. Through military-civilian judicial linkage, we negotiate to resolve new situations and new problems that arise in the work, so as to promote the mutual transformation of military-civilian spiritual civilization construction results, and promote the innovative development of military-related public interest litigation cooperation work.
protected area presents a new look
In August 2022, the prosecutor came to Yuanfang Township again to carry out the "look back" activity for public interest litigation."The fish ponds and nursing houses in the core area of the wetland have been cleared, and the special funds to help farmers switch production have also been implemented. The next step is to work with relevant departments to carry out ecological restoration of this area, to achieve fishing and wetness reduction, and to return fishing to farming, so as to completely improve the ecological environment of the core area." Sun Qiaoling, director of the Fourth Procuratorate Department, introduced.
In October 2021, the Henan Provincial Procuratorate sent the clues "Xinxiang Yellow River Wetland Bird National Nature Reserve and Surrounding Violations" in the list of ecological environment warning films in the 2021 Yellow River river basin to the Xiangfu District Procuratorate of Kaifeng City. After receiving the clues, the court immediately organized an investigation.
After preliminary investigation, the overlap area between the core area of the Yellow River Wetland National Nature Reserve in Xinxiang, Henan and the experimental area of the Liuyuankou Wetland Provincial Nature Reserve in Kaifeng, Henan is located in Yuanfang Township, Xiangfu District, Kaifeng City. Since the relevant departments of Xinxiang and Kaifeng have different opinions on the determination of the administrative jurisdiction of wetlands, the more than 50 consecutive fish ponds and more than 30 care rooms in this area not only hinder the safety of flood transportation in the Yellow River, but also the water used for fish ponds requires long-term extraction of Yellow River water and groundwater. In addition, the arbitrary discharge of aquaculture tail water seriously damages the ecological environment of the wetlands and poses a threat to the survival of rare birds. Xiangfu District Court then made a special report to the superior court and Xiangfu District Party Committee and Government, and invited experts from the Henan Provincial Forestry Department and professional and technical personnel from the District Wetland Protection Center to conduct on-site inspections, clarifying the respective jurisdictions of the two places.
In November 2021, the Xiangfu District Procuratorate filed an investigation into the clue. Due to the wide distribution of fish ponds and complex terrain, the prosecutor used the drone to further fix the evidence. Through in-depth investigation, there were 170 fish ponds distributed in 36 overlapping areas of the two places, including 16 fish ponds in Xiangfu area with an area of 1,050 mu.
"Ecological priority and green development. To defend the green waters and green mountains means to defend the gold and silver mountains." Dai Chaohui, the procurator general of Xiangfu District Procuratorate, said that in environmental public interest litigation, the procuratorate must coordinate the forces of all parties to resolve the interests of all parties. "Public interest litigation must not only protect the ecological environment, but also protect the people's vital interests, and achieve win-win and win-win results."
In December 2021, after clarifying the responsibilities, the court issued a prosecutorial recommendation to the Yuanfang Township Government in accordance with the law, suggesting that it use more than 870 acres of fish ponds and north of Xuzhuang Village, where nursing houses are densely distributed as breakthrough points, carry out ice-breaking operations, and carry out cleaning and rectification work scientifically and orderly.
Economy needs to develop, ecological environment needs to be governed, and people's losses must be reduced as much as possible. The court held roundtable meetings with the township government many times, coordinating special funds of more than 2 million yuan, and solving the people's livelihood problems to the greatest extent; at the same time, the court and relevant departments set up a special working team, implemented a subcontracted work mechanism, and conducted policy preaching and explanation of the law to farmers in the remaining 180 acres of fish ponds, and ordered them to return fishing to wet within a time limit.
"On June 1, the "Wetland Protection Law" was officially implemented, which is a new chapter in my country's opening of a comprehensive track of wetland protection into the rule of law. For one-sided economic interests, some people in the jurisdiction carried out pond breeding activities in the core area of the wetland nature reserve and the experimental area, seriously destroying the wetland ecosystem . The Xiangfu District Procuratorate fully utilized the "river chief + procurator general" model, and administrative law enforcement and procuratorial public interest litigation work together to promote the rectification of problems, which is worthy of recognition." After learning that the ecological environment of the wetland core area and the experimental area has improved, Wang Jingwei, the people's supervisor of the Kaifeng Procuratorate and the Xiangfu District People's Congress representative, said excitedly.
On September 6, 2022, the "Administrative Public Interest Litigation Case for Supervising the Protection of Yellow River Wetlands" was selected as a typical case by the Supreme People's Procuratorate.
Public interest litigation is not for winning or losing, nor is it because it is condescending in the name of a supervisor, but rather to solve problems and maintain public welfare within the scope of the law. After sorting out the data in recent years, we can find that the number of cases handled has grown steadily and the quality and efficiency of cases handled has been continuously improved.What is even more gratifying is that the Xiangfu District Procuratorate of Kaifeng City accurately grasps the core essence of public interest litigation, focuses on promoting the resolution of pain points and bottlenecks that the people have strongly reflected in accordance with the law, and strives to eliminate public interests through pre-trial procedures, so that public interests can be effectively maintained in pre-trial procedures, and achieve the greatest social effect with the minimum judicial cost.
