BEIJING -- A total of 42,195 suspects faced criminal prosecution for damaging the environment across China in 2018, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) Thursday.

Prosecutors filed 26,287 litigation cases involving such crimes last year, said Zhang Xueqiao, deputy procurator-general of the SPP, at a press conference.

Many local prosecuting agencies set up divisions specialized in environmental crimes and tried to establish coordination mechanisms across different jurisdictions to improve efficiency, Zhang said.

In addition, suspects and defendants in environmental cases were encouraged to repair the damages they caused, as a way to show remorse and plead leniency.

"When a case is closed and justice is made, we hope the damaged environment will also be rehabilitated rather than left unattended," Zhang said.