Chinese prosecutors zero in on environmental crime cases, report says
- They looked into double the number of cases involving damage to the environment in the past five years compared to 2013-17
- But the number of prosecutions filed appears to be on a downward trend, accounting for less than half the cases investigated last year
Chinese prosecutors have investigated double the number of criminal cases involving environmental damage in the past five years compared to the 2013-17 period.
That is according to a report released by the top prosecutor on Monday, coinciding with World Environment Day.
That was an increase of more than 110 per cent in the number of cases and a rise of over 90 per cent in the number of suspects compared to the previous five years, according to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate report.
But the number of prosecutions filed appeared to be on a downward trend, accounting for less than half the cases examined in 2022. It was around 62 per cent the previous year, and 73 per cent in 2020.
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Wang Canfa, a professor of environmental law at the China University of Political Science and Law, put this down to prosecutors seeking to find a balance between being too lenient and too harsh on environmental crime.