Zhang Jinghua, a deputy to the National People's Congress [Photo/court.gov.cn]

Bearing in mind the main task of justice for the people, courts in Heilongjiang province achieved a great deal last year. It has enforced 279,000 cases, concluded cases worth 52.16 billion yuan ($7.37 billion) and made 126,000 individuals fulfilled their duties voluntarily. All there are important contributions to overall law-based governance.

As for the work of Chinese courts for this year, Zhang Jinghua, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) puts forward the following suggestions:

Firstly, courts must severely punish the crimes that cross the red line of wildlife protection in accordance with the law. The 16th Session of the 13th NPC Standing Committee made the decision to ban the illegal trade in wildlife and eliminate the consumption of wild animals, so as to guarantee people’s lives, health and safety. Zhang suggests that courts should strictly implement this decision in order to deter illegal wildlife trading.

Secondly, criminals who have been sentenced for causing widespread infections by deliberately concealing their COVID-19 infections and travel histories during the COVID-19 prevention and control period should be included in the list of bad-faith individuals.

As a female deputy, Zhang suggests that courts at all levels should further strengthen the following aspects: at least one female police officer should be assigned to participate in the investigation and collection of evidence on sexual assault cases against women and children; legal education classes should be regularly held at schools so that teenagers can learn, understand, use and abide by the law so as to improve their awareness of self-protection and help them understand the need for punishment of school violence. The courts should also severely crack down on the crimes of abducting and trafficking women and children.