Four Defendants Sentenced for Buying and Selling Cordyceps Sinensis - The Qilian Mountain Forest District Court Sentenced Three Cases of Endangering National Key Protected Wild Plants
On July 30, the Qilian Mountain Forest District Court pronounced judgments on three cases of endangering wild plants under national key protection, and the four defendants involved in the case were investigated for criminal responsibility for buying and selling Cordyceps.
From April to May 2022, defendant Zhang Mouquan successively purchased more than 12,000 cordyceps sinensis at a price of 120,840 yuan from Chen Wan, Haxi Town, Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, and then sold the purchased cordyceps sinensis to Chen Mouzhi and others at a price of 124,640 yuan, making an illegal profit of 3,800 yuan. The Qilianshan Public Security Bureau seized and seized 2,618 cordyceps sinensis in accordance with the law. After trial, the Qilian Mountain Forest District Court held that the defendant Zhang Mouquan illegally purchased and sold more than 12,000 Cordyceps sinensis, a wild plant under national second-class key protection, for the purpose of making profits without the approval of the forestry and grassland departments and the application for a permit, and his behavior constituted the crime of endangering national key protected plants. Zhang Mouquan was sentenced to one year and six months in prison, suspended for two years, and fined 6,000 yuan; 3,800 yuan of illegal gains will be recovered; The seized 2,618 cordyceps sinensis were confiscated.
From April to May 2022, the defendant Chen Mouzhi successively purchased more than 10,000 Cordyceps sinensis from Zhang Mouquan, Guangming Group, Gucheng Village, Haxi Town, Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County (handled in a separate case) at a price of 107,140 yuan, and then sold the purchased Cordyceps sinensis to Sun Moumou and 12 others at a price of 111836 yuan, making a profit of 4,696 yuan. After trial, the Qilian Mountain Forest District Court sentenced Chen Mouzhi to one year and three months in prison, suspended for two years, and fined 5,000 yuan for the crime of endangering national key protected plants; 4,696 yuan of illegal gains were recovered; The 98 cordyceps sinensis seized were confiscated.
In May 2022, the defendant Zhao Mouli purchased 397 Cordyceps sinensis, a national second-class key protected wild plant, from 15 local herdsmen in the experimental area under the jurisdiction of the Hualong Nature Conservation Station of the Qilian Mountain National Nature Reserve in Gansu Province, with a total transaction price of 4,330 yuan. In June 2023, while on bail pending trial, the defendant Zhao Mouli and the defendant Chen Mouxia went to the Haxi Nature Reserve of the Qilian Mountain National Nature Reserve in Gansu Province to purchase 2,024 Cordyceps sinensis from a number of local herdsmen, with a total transaction price of more than 14,000 yuan. After trial, the Qilian Mountain Forest District Court sentenced Zhao Mouli to eight months in prison, suspended for one year and six months, and fined 3,000 yuan for the crime of endangering national key protected plants; sentenced defendant Chen Mouxia to five months' short-term detention, suspended for one year, and fined 2,000 yuan; Defendants Zhao Mouli and Chen Mouxia are prohibited from engaging in activities for the management or use of wild plants during the probationary period of probation; The seized 2,421 cordyceps sinensis were confiscated.
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Judges popularize the law
A wide variety of wild plants are an important part of the natural ecosystem, a precious resource endowed by nature to human beings, and play an irreplaceable role in maintaining ecological balance. Cordyceps sinensis is a national second-class key protected wild plant, and the acquisition of national second-class protected wild plants must be approved by the administrative department of wild plants or its authorized institutions. Article 344 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that whoever violates state regulations by illegally felling or destroying precious trees or other plants under key national protection, or illegally purchasing, transporting, processing or selling precious trees or other plants under key national protection and the products thereof, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, short-term detention or controlled release, and shall also be fined; where the circumstances are serious, a sentence of between three and seven years imprisonment and a concurrent fine is to be given.
The Qilian Mountain Forest District Court reminded the broad masses of the people to raise their awareness of protecting the ecological environment and wild and rare plants, and to safeguard the beautiful homeland on which human beings depend. Cordyceps, Suoyang, Cistanche and other wild plants are all national key protected wild plants, and arbitrary mining, acquisition, transportation, processing, and sale will violate national laws and may be investigated for criminal liability.
Source: Qilian Mountain Forest District Court