Five sentenced for illegal sand mining

A court in Zhengzhou, Henan province, has convicted five men in sentence ranging from seven months and 15 days to three years and four months for illegal sand mining along the Yellow River on Saturday, just when the Yellow River Protection Law took effect on the same day.

It is the first time the law has been applied to mining resources destruction in the Yellow River.

The Zhengzhou Railway Transport Court found the five guilty of committing crimes of illegal mining and they were also banned from sand mining for five years after they serve their sentences.

Li Xin, a judge of the court, said although the court made the decisions based on the Criminal Law and Civil Code, it has taken into consideration the Yellow River Protection Law, which bans sand mining in the Yellow River basin within controlled areas and during certain time.

The Yellow River Protection Law was adopted in October last year. The law aims to promote ecological conservation and restoration and environment protection along the Yellow River, known as the mother river of China.