2023
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Part.01
Brief facts of the case
Luo Moumou, a villager in Ganluo County, Liangshan, Sichuan, found relatives Luo, Xu, Xu, Li and others to help cut down the cedar in his own woodland in August 2023 without applying for a felling permit. According to the feedback from the investigation report of the Forestry and Grassland Bureau, the total area of indiscriminate felling of trees by Luo Moumou was 0.157 hectares, with a total of 514 trees. Among them, 0.1386 hectares of arbor woodland, 0.0184 hectares of shrub woodland, and 70.5 cubic meters of forest stock.
Luo Moumou's behavior is suspected of the crime of indiscriminate felling of trees, and he has been criminally detained, and the case is being further handled.
(Case source: Red Star News)
Part.02
Case analysis
The crime of indiscriminate felling of forests refers to the act of indiscriminately felling forests or other forests in violation of the provisions of the Forest Law, and the amount of trees is relatively large, constituting a crime.
(1) Indiscriminate deforestation
According to the provisions of the Forest Law, a felling permit shall be applied for for the felling of trees on forest land, and the felling shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the felling permit. In this case, the actor Luo Moumou cut down cedar without a felling permit, which is an act of indiscriminate felling of trees.
(2) Determination of "large quantity".
The act of indiscriminate deforestation constitutes the crime of deforestation, and a large number of conditions need to be met. According to the relevant judicial interpretations, "standing timber accumulation of more than 20 cubic meters" is considered a relatively large quantity, and in this case, the actor Luo Moumou and others cut down trees and accumulated 70.5 cubic meters, which met the standard of a relatively large number and met the quantitative requirements for constituting the crime of indiscriminate felling of trees.
(3) Can "one's own woods" be guilty?
According to the provisions of the law and relevant judicial interpretations, the crime of indiscriminate felling of trees does not require that the perpetrator cut down the trees of others, and the felling of "one's own forests" also constitutes a crime, of course, the felling of other people's trees may constitute the crime of illegal logging.
However, according to the provisions of the Forest Law, rural residents do not need to apply for a felling permit to harvest the sporadic trees owned by themselves on their own land and in front of and behind their houses. Usually sporadic trees refer to 3-5 trees, if the trees planted in the self-reserved land, in front of the house and behind the house are in patches, dozens of trees, and have formed a forest, then there is no concept of "sporadic trees", and it is necessary to apply for a forest felling permit. The number of trees cut down by Luo Moumou in this case is obviously not "sporadic" trees, so he cannot be convicted.
Part.03
Revelation of the case
(1) A "Forest Felling Permit" is required to harvest trees.
One of the important reasons for the fact that the perpetrator has no concept of the "forest felling permit" and feels that "I can cut down the trees I planted myself." "There is no dispute that the ownership of trees belongs to the perpetrator, but the act of cutting down trees and disposing of personal property is regulated by law, so it is necessary to apply for a "forest felling permit" before cutting down trees to avoid legal risks.
(2) Solve the problem of "difficulty in applying for certificates".
Many perpetrators are not completely unaware of the need to apply for forest felling permits before cutting down trees, but because of the problem of "difficult to apply for permits, complicated permits, and slow permits", they take the risk of breaking the law and committing crimes to illegally cut down trees, so it is necessary to further implement the requirements of the State Council to deepen the reform of "delegating power, delegating power, and providing services", innovate the forest felling management mechanism, strengthen convenient service measures, and improve the efficiency of felling approval.
In accordance with the requirements of "one run at most", the relevant departments will inform the logging applicant of the processing conditions, application materials and service process at one time in advance, and fully implement convenient and efficient services such as "one-window acceptance" and "one-stop processing". Using mobile Internet technology, the mobile APP system for forest felling is opened, so that forest farmers can apply for felling "without leaving home".
Part.04
Legal Links
Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 345 [Crime of Indiscriminate Felling of Trees]
Whoever violates the provisions of the Forest Law by indiscriminately felling forests or other forest trees, and the quantity is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, short-term detention or controlled release, and/or a fine; where the amount is huge, the sentence is between three and seven years imprisonment and a concurrent fine.
Forest Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 56
Felling of forest trees on forest land shall apply for a felling permit and be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the felling permit;
Rural residents do not need to apply for a felling permit to harvest sporadic trees on their own land and in front of and behind their houses.
The regeneration and felling of farmland shelter forests, windbreak and sand fixation forests, road protection forests, bank protection and berm forests and urban forests on non-forest land shall be managed by the relevant competent departments in accordance with relevant regulations.
The harvesting and transplantation of trees shall be managed in accordance with the felling of trees. The specific measures shall be formulated by the competent forestry department of the State Council.
It is forbidden to forge, alter, buy, sell, or lease logging permits.
Article 76
In the case of illegal felling of trees, the competent department of forestry of the people's government at or above the county level shall order the replanting of trees with a number of not less than one time but not more than five times the number of illegally felled trees in the same place or in another place within a time limit, and shall also impose a fine of not less than five times but not more than ten times the value of the illegally felled trees.
In the case of indiscriminate felling of trees, the competent department of forestry of the people's government at or above the county level shall order the replanting of trees with a number of trees not less than one time but not more than three times the number of trees in the same place or in another place within a time limit, and may impose a fine of not less than three times but not more than five times the value of the indiscriminately felled trees.
Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Criminal Cases of Destruction of Forest Resources
Article 5
In any of the following circumstances, it shall be found to be "indiscriminate felling of forests or other trees" as provided for in paragraph 2 of Criminal Law article 345:
(1) Arbitrarily felling trees owned by the unit or oneself without obtaining a felling permit, or in violation of the time, place, quantity, tree species, and method specified in the felling permit;
(2) Violating the provisions of paragraph 3 of Article 56 of the Forest Law by arbitrarily felling forests owned by the unit or by himself;
(3) Felling forests owned by the State, collectives or others in excess of the prescribed quantity at the place specified in the felling permit.
If there is a dispute over the ownership of the forest, and one party does not obtain a felling permit, it shall be punished as indiscriminate felling of the forest.
Article 6
In any of the following circumstances, the indiscriminate felling of forests or other forest trees involved in the case shall be found to be a "relatively large quantity" as provided for in paragraph 2 of Criminal Law article 345:
(A) the accumulation of 20 cubic meters or more;
(2) 1,000 or more young trees;
(3) Although the quantity does not meet the standards provided for in items 1 and 2 respectively, the total amount converted into the relevant standards according to the corresponding proportions meets the relevant standards;
(4) The value is 50,000 yuan or more.
Where the conduct provided for in the preceding paragraph reaches five times or more of the standards provided for in items 1 through 4, it shall be found to be a "huge amount" as provided for in paragraph 2 of Criminal Law article 345.
Where the act of indiscriminate felling of trees is carried out, and the trees involved are killed or seriously damaged by natural causes such as wind falling, fire, water damage, or forest pests, they are generally not punished as crimes;
Producer: Zhang Yongjiang
Author: Peng Fan, 2023 Master of Laws (Law) student at Xiangtan University Law School
Editor: Peng Fan
Editor-in-charge: Yi Lingfeng
Review: Wang Kui
End
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2023