The Qufu Fangshan Tomb Group is a national key cultural relics protection unit and a provincial cultural relics protection unit, which is of great value for the study of the burial system and burial customs of the State of Lu during the Zhou Dynasty, especially in the Spring and Autumn Period. However, some people can't care so much, precious cultural relics in their eyes can only be equated with money, so they start to send "cultural relics and wealth" crooked thoughts, the consequences can be imagined.
Case Review
Wang Dafa and Wang Yongfa are small, in November 2020, the two met Sun Ming, heard that Sun Ming is planning to excavate the ancient tomb, there are many valuable things in the tomb, if it can make a lot of money, the two agreed.
In April 2021, the three of them found a few more helpers and lived together in the house rented by Wang Yongfa to prepare for negotiations, waiting for the right time. During this period, Wang Dafa and several people went to the vicinity of the tomb group twice to step on the spot, and the second time they stepped on the point, they were almost caught by the staff and fled in a hurry.
This thrilling experience did not sound the alarm bell for them, and after 5 days of suspension, Sun Ming arranged for several people to carry out tomb robbery. After arriving at the tomb group, according to the prior plan, Wang Dafa was responsible for looking at the wind, and the rest of the people were responsible for digging holes and transferring the excavated soil. Not long after the start, the duty officer noticed the movement on this side. Subsequently, the police rushed to the scene to arrest Wang Dafa on the spot, and the others took the opportunity to escape, and have now been chased by the public security organs online.
In June 2021, the Qufu Municipal Procuratorate approved the arrest of Wang Dafa in accordance with the law. In October of the same year, after review and prosecution by the Qufu Municipal Procuratorate, Wang Dafa was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison and fined 4,000 yuan by the Qufu Municipal Court for the crime of excavating ancient tombs.
(The above characters are pseudonyms)
Links to laws
According to the first paragraph of article 328 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, whoever excavates ancient cultural sites or tombs of historical, artistic or scientific value shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined; if the circumstances are less serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and shall also be fined; in any of the following circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or have his property confiscated:
(1) Illegally excavating ancient cultural sites or tombs identified as national key cultural relics protection units or provincial-level cultural relics protection units;
(2) The ringleaders of the group that excavated ancient cultural sites and tombs;
(3) Repeatedly excavating ancient cultural sites or ancient tombs;
(4) Excavating ancient cultural sites or tombs, and stealing precious cultural relics or causing serious damage to precious cultural relics.
The Prosecutor had something to say
Ancient tombs are precious symbols of Chinese civilization and contain rich historical, artistic and scientific values, and it is the responsibility of every citizen to protect them. Here, we would like to remind the general public that in order to satisfy their own selfish desires, they will face severe legal sanctions for digging ancient tombs privately.
Source: Qufu Procuratorate
Author: Wang Jie, Yan Haifeng
Editor: Fan Jinyue
【Source: Shandong Provincial People's Procuratorate】