The criminal case of Li Xliang and Yang Xli causing fire and Yang Xli illegally hunting animals with incidental civil public interest actions
The criminal case of Li Xliang and Yang Xli causing fire and Yang Xli illegally hunting animals with incidental civil public interest actions
[Case summary]
Defendants Li Xliang and Yang Xli had a rendezvous in the woods to harvest wild honey by smoking away the bees and videoed the process to promote their harvest. On April 1, 2021, Li Xliang and Yang Xli met in a ranger post of the National Park of Hainan Tropical Rainforest, carried with lighter, iron barrel and video camera and set out on foot to seek beehives in the mountains. Li Xliang, when making a fire to smoke out the bees, accidentally ignited the grass by the beehive. Li Xliang tried to put out the fire and called Yang Xli for help. Yang Xli, who noticed that the fire was blazing towards him, escaped from the site. And Li Xliang, panicked, also run for his life. Investigation showed that the forest fire consumed 90 mu of woods under first-class protection (key public interest woods), and the burned trees were pines and natural broadleaf trees. Yang Xli and Li Xliang were then arrested, and Yang Xli confessed truthfully his criminal acts of illegal hunting, which were not known to the police yet. The Second Branch of Hainan People’s Procuratorate brought a public prosecution against Li Xliang and Yang Xli for causing the fire and against Yang Xli for illegal hunting; and took incidental civil public interest actions against the two, requesting that Yang Xli and Li Xliang conduct ex-situ remedy together of the damaged 90 mu of woods according to the ecological environment remedial plan, or, incidentally bear the remedial costs of CNY267,000 by cash or labor, the losses of CNY698,736 to compensate the functional loss of the damaged woods from the damage of the ecological environment to the completion of the remedy, and the costs of CNY 30,000 for case investigation and remedial plan preparation.
[Verdict]
Hainan Second Intermediate People’s Court held after court hearing that Li Xliang and Yang Xli violated laws and regulations on forest protection and forest fire prevention, caused forest fire when smoking bees for honey, leading to serious public and private property losses, and committed the crime of causing fire; Yang Xli violated hunting laws and regulations, used forbidden tools and methods to hunt animals in no-hunting areas, seriously jeopardized wildlife resources, and committed the crime of hunting animals; Li Xliang and Yang Xli caused the fire that destroyed a large quantity of trees, seriously damaged the local forest resources and ecological environment, and should bear civil liabilities accordingly. The court decided that Yang Xli be punished for both crimes combined and sentenced him to one year and six months in prison, and sentenced Li Xliang to one year and two months in prison; ordered Li Xliang and Yang Xli to bear incidentally the costs of CNY267,000 for ex-situ remedy by cash or labor, the costs of CNY30,000 for ecological function loss evaluation and remedial plan preparation, and the costs of CNY698,736 to compensate the functional loss of the damaged woods from the damage of the ecological environment to the completion of the remedy. Upon announcement of the judgement, neither party appealed against or protest it, and the judgement of the first instance has taken effect.
[Significance]
This is a criminal case with incidental civil public interest actions that took place within the National Park of Hainan Tropical Rainforest. The National Park of Hainan Tropical Rainforest, though taking less than 0.046% of the national territory, is home to about 20% of China’s amphibian species, 33% of reptiles, 38.6% of birds and 20% of animals, including 145 species of wildlife under state priority conservation and 23 local species in Hainan, which are highly valuable in terms of biodiversity. Safeguarding the ecological environment in the National Park of Hainan Tropical Rainforest is a vital mission of the people’s courts in environment and resources adjudication. In this case, the people’s court cracked down on the crimes of causing fire and illegally hunting animals that seriously compromise the ecological equilibrium of the tropical rainforests, and ordered the offender to bear the liabilities of ecological compensation according to the law, thus practicing the strictest rule of law in ecological and environmental protection. Meanwhile, considering his economic difficulties, the court allowed the defendant to perform his ex-situ ecological remedy by labor, which is a move that reflects the judicial concerns for the people’s livelihood, facilitates the actual enforcement of the judgement, helps the defendant change his mind of relying on natural resources for a living, and promotes his relatives and friends to transform their ways of life and production towards a man-nature harmonious coexistence.
