China beefs up crackdown on environment-related crimes

BEIJING -- China prosecuted 50,800 people in 2019 for environment-related crimes including damaging the environment and smuggling imported waste, up 20.4 percent year on year, a work report of the Supreme People's Procuratorate showed Monday.

A total of 69,236 public interest litigations in the environmental domain were handled in 2019, up 16.7 percent, according to the report submitted to the ongoing national legislative session for deliberation.