On December 28, the Yinchuan Railway Transport Court of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region publicly announced the verdict of two cases of criminal incidental civil public interest litigation involving wildlife crimes, sentencing 12 defendants to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from eight to ten months, and bearing a total of more than 3.55 million yuan in costs such as the loss of wild bird resources and compensation for damage to the ecological environment.
The court found through trial that between April 2021 and March 2023, defendants Chen Moumou and Luo Moumou successively purchased national second-class key protected wild animals such as demoiselle cranes and whooper swans, as well as terrestrial wild animals with important ecological, scientific and social value in the country, such as ruddy shelducks and herons, and their eggs, in Shizuishan City, Ningxia, Alxa Zuoqi, Inner Mongolia, and other places, with the intention of selling them to other places for illegal benefits. Defendants Yang XX, Li XX, and others, driven by interests, illegally hunted the above-mentioned wild animals and their eggs** to Chen XX and Luo XX in the Yellow River wetlands in Pingluo County, Ningxia, and the lakes in the Alxa Left Banner of Inner Mongolia.
The scene of the trial. (Photo courtesy of Yinchuan Railway Transport Court, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region).
The court held at trial that the defendants Chen Moumou and Luo Moumou illegally purchased, rare and endangered wild animals and the "three haves" wild animals protected by the state, and their actions constituted the crime of endangering precious and endangered wild animals and the crime of covering up and concealing criminal proceeds, and sentenced the defendant Chen Moumou to eight years in prison and a fine of 750,000 yuan;Defendant Luo XX was sentenced to four years and ten months imprisonment and fined 40,000 yuan. Defendants Yang XX, Li XX, and others illegally hunted herons, ruddy shelduck chicks, and eggs during the hunting ban period and in the hunting ban area, using prohibited methods such as digging nests and netting to illegally hunt herons, ruddy shelducks, and eggs, all constituted the crime of illegal hunting, and were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 4 to 10 months. Because the defendant carried out illegal hunting and acquisition during the breeding period of wild birds, which destroyed the natural breeding law and ecological balance of birds, caused damage to biodiversity, and caused a major impact on the ecological environment, the defendant was sentenced to bear 1Compensation ranging from 60,000 yuan to 980,000 yuan. (Reporter Yang Wenxi).