CCTV News:From August 5 to 7, the Intermediate People’s Court of Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province and seven grass-roots people’s courts under its jurisdiction, such as Xiangshui, Sheyang and Binhai, held a first-instance public hearing on a series of criminal cases involved in the "March 21" extraordinarily serious explosion accident of Jiangsu Xiangshui Tianjiayi Chemical Co., Ltd.
On March 21, 2019, Tianjiayi Chemical Co., Ltd., located in Xiangshui Eco-chemical Park, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province, had a particularly serious explosion accident, resulting in 78 deaths, 76 serious injuries and 640 hospitalizations, with a direct economic loss of 1,986,350,700 yuan. The accident involved 22 criminal cases, 7 defendant units and 53 defendants.
The public prosecutor accused the defendant Jiangsu Nijiaxiang Group Co., Ltd. and Tianjiayi Company of illegally storing dangerous substances, endangering public safety, and the circumstances were serious. Two defendants, including Wu Yuezhong and Ni Chengliang, directly responsible for the defendant Nijiaxiang Group and the group, and seven defendants, including Zhang Qinyue, directly responsible for Tianjiayi Company and other directly responsible personnel, and Zhang Huide, the defendant who helped Tianjiayi Company illegally store dangerous substances, Criminal responsibility should be investigated for the crime of illegally storing dangerous substances. The defendant Nijiaxiang Group, Tianjiayi Company and defendant Zhang Huide are joint criminals, among which Nijiaxiang Group, Zhang Qinyue, Wu Yuezhong and Ni Chengliang are the principal offenders, and the other seven defendants are accomplices. Tianjiayi Company illegally disposed of hazardous waste, which polluted the environment, and the consequences were particularly serious. The five defendants, including Zhang Qinyue, the person in charge directly responsible for the company and other directly responsible personnel, should be investigated for criminal responsibility for the crime of environmental pollution. Defendant Zhang Qinyue, as the directly responsible person in charge of Tianjiayi Company, paid bribes to seek illegitimate interests of his unit. If the circumstances are serious, he should also be investigated for criminal responsibility for bribery by his unit, and the related defendants should be punished for several crimes according to law.
The public prosecution agency also accused six defendants of constituting a major labor safety accident, six defendant units and 22 defendants respectively constituted the crime of providing false certification documents and the crime of issuing major inaccurate certification documents, and 15 public officials of state organs respectively constituted the crime of dereliction of duty and the crime of accepting bribes.
During the trial, the public prosecutor expressed his opinions on public prosecution in court, and presented evidence for various criminal facts. The litigation representative of the defendant unit, the defendant and his defender fully expressed their defense opinions, and most of the defendants pleaded guilty and repented in court. Deputies to the National People’s Congress, CPPCC members, representatives of government agencies and units, some accident victims and representatives of the masses attended the trial. This series of cases will be pronounced on an elective basis.
关于作者