13,895 environmental resource cases solved in past year

A total of 13,895 criminal cases related to environmental resources were solved from July 2016 to June 2017 in China, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) said in a white paper Thursday.

Up to 27,384 people were sentenced, while the number of such criminal cases accepted stood at 16,373, according to the SPC.

Courts at all levels strengthened civil trials of environment-related cases. As many as 151,152 civil cases about environmental resources were solved in the same period out of the 187,753 accepted, the white paper showed.

Another 29,232 administrative cases on environmental resources were solved in the past 12 months, with 39,746 accepted.

As of April 2017, the number of judicial organs for such cases increased by 398 on a yearly basis, which marked a 71.3-percent rise, according to the white paper.

Also, a judicial research center on environmental resources at the SPC issued a development report on China’s environmental justice Thursday, which called for legislation on environmental accountability and improvements of the system for administrative litigation.