A few days ago, huqiu district People’s Court in Suzhou tried a case of stealing ancient tombs, and sentenced the three Wang brothers who stole 14 ancient tombs in Suzhou to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from eleven years and three months to nine years, and also fined them, and the illegal gains of the defendants were recovered and confiscated. Wang, the principal offender, appealed against the judgment, and Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court ruled to reject the appeal and upheld the original judgment.
The crime of robbing ancient tombs originated from a responsible patrol by forest rangers. In January, 2017, Zhang Longgen, the ranger of Hengshan Park Management Office, was patrolling as usual and found that a mound was soft and a bit unusual. He approached to check and found a stolen hole. “I quickly reported to Yang Ying, the director of our management office. Under her guidance, we quickly called the police and reported the situation to Suzhou Cultural Relics Bureau”. Zhang Longgen recalled.
After the incident, the forestry department, the public security department and the cultural relics department worked together. Personnel from Suzhou Cultural Relics Bureau, Municipal Archaeological Research Institute and Municipal Cultural Market Comprehensive Law Enforcement Detachment went to the scene to check the situation. After investigation, five stolen tombs were found at the scene, one at the top of the mountain and four at the foothills on the east side. Among them, the top of the mountain was robbed and buried as a large stone mound tomb, which was included in the registration point of the third national cultural relics census. A stolen hole with a diameter of 2.3 meters and a depth of 6.4 meters was found at the top of the tomb. It had reached the bottom of the tomb, and black charcoal and braised soil were dug out. According to the discovery in Suzhou, where the archaeology is located, such tombs are generally buried with printed hard pottery, primitive celadon, jade, agate, turquoise and even bronze ware.
Judging from the situation at the scene, this was done by a professional grave robbery gang, which caused serious damage to the grave. The act of excavating ancient tombs also caused direct and serious damage to the tombs themselves, and the repair and maintenance cost a lot. The method of excavating and robbing tombs seriously damaged the cultural relics and environment of ancient tombs. Appraised by the appraisal agency, the ancient tombs involved in the case are ancient tombs from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Qing Dynasty in Suzhou, which have high research value for the history and culture of Suzhou.
After investigation, three Wang fellows from Zhejiang committed the crime. From 2016 to 2017, they robbed He Shan, Hengshan, Guanshan in huqiu district, Suzhou and Fenghuangshan in Wuzhong District for many times, destroying 14 ancient tombs from Shang and Zhou Dynasties to Qing Dynasty, and handing over the stolen agate bracelets, hostesses, broken arrow and other cultural relics to others for sale, resulting in the loss and damage of cultural relics.
In order to help the police solve the case and bring the criminals to justice as soon as possible, Suzhou Cultural Relics Bureau actively cooperated with the police and did a lot of work.
Zhai Suli, director of the Cultural Relics Department of Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism (Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau), told the reporter, “In the first time, we will organize experts to conduct on-the-spot investigation, find out the case, determine the situation of grave robbery, and timely send the case and expert judgment to the public security department to coordinate the emergency handling of the case and the follow-up investigation appeal.”
“During the interval between solving cases, the local departments of cultural relics will strengthen the linkage between inspections and public security departments. After solving the case, the public security departments will provide judicial evidence and expert opinions to the public security and procuratorate departments in a timely and accurate manner, relying on the convenience of the appraisal and evaluation institutions of cultural relics involved in Suzhou, so as to promote the case detection and litigation progress.” Su Li said.
In order to maintain the normal social management order and protect the integrity of national cultural relics and culture, Huqiu Court made a first-instance judgment according to law, and sentenced Wang’s three brothers and others to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from eleven years and three months to nine years for the crime of stealing ancient tombs. The public prosecution agency thought that the criminal act caused bad influence and damaged the public interest, and at the same time filed an incidental civil public interest lawsuit. The defendant paid compensation for the identification, repair and maintenance costs of the grave robbery.
“This judgment has dealt a powerful blow to the arrogance of cultural relics criminals. We will strictly abide by the bottom line of cultural relics safety and have’ zero tolerance’ for cultural relics crimes.” Su Li said.
Suzhou is rich in cultural relics resources. In recent years, the cultural relics department of Suzhou has firmly established the first awareness of cultural relics safety, built a comprehensive responsibility system for cultural relics safety, carried out the cultural relics safety project in depth, and taken active measures to protect and maintain cultural relics safety according to law. It has done a lot of work and achieved remarkable results.
In the protection of immovable cultural relics, Suzhou Cultural Relics Department completed the eighth batch of cultural protection units above the municipal level and the fifth batch of protected buildings, delineated the protection scope and construction control zones, and investigated and counted the property rights of cultural protection units and protected buildings at all levels. At the same time, we will carry out the safety project of cultural relics in depth, and strive for financial funds at all levels to support the construction of cultural relics protection projects. In 2020, the national, provincial and municipal governments will allocate 9.83 million yuan of special funds to cultural relics maintenance, security, fire protection and lightning protection standards, and implement key projects such as rescue protection of key cultural relics along the Grand Canal, preventive protection in tiger hill, and comprehensive management experimental area of cultural relics safety. A number of important cultural relics have been properly protected.
In order to tighten the responsibility for the safety of cultural relics, Suzhou issued the “Implementation Opinions on Further Strengthening the Safety of Cultural Relics”. Changshu, gusu district, High-tech Zone and other places included the safety of cultural relics in the government’s annual assessment content, and each township (street) defined the Commissioner for the safety of cultural relics. Sign letters of responsibility for the protection and management of cultural relics step by step with the municipal government departments, government departments and towns (streets), villages (communities) and cultural institutions, and make the main responsibility for the safety of cultural relics at all levels of government, the regulatory responsibility of cultural relics administrative departments and relevant departments, and the direct responsibilities of all kinds of cultural protection units at all levels clearly in place.
Safeguarding the safety of cultural relics can’t just rely on the cultural relics department. Suzhou cultural relics department actively establishes a cooperation mechanism for cultural relics safety, gives full play to the organization, coordination and guidance role of Suzhou Cultural Relics Management Committee, and establishes a long-term cooperation mechanism between cultural relics and departments such as public security, fire control, capital planning, housing construction, gardens, meteorology, and ethnic minorities, so as to form a joint force for cultural relics protection, and timely adjust the membership list, adding the intermediate people’s court and the municipal people’s procuratorate to the cultural relics protection management team.
At the beginning of 2022, Suzhou Cultural Relics Bureau and the Municipal Procuratorate jointly issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Linkage and Cooperation of Cultural Relics Protection, and cooperated with each other in clue transfer feedback, information sharing, case handling cooperation and law enforcement supervision to jointly create a Suzhou model of cultural relics protection. At the same time, social forces were mobilized to participate in the safety protection of cultural relics, a group of volunteers for cultural relics protection were developed, and community inspections were carried out with gusu district as the center, thus realizing the grid management of cultural relics safety prevention and control.
Safety inspection system of cultural relics takes precedence. Suzhou Cultural Relics Bureau has formulated the safety management system of cultural relics such as Suzhou Cultural Relics Safety Inspection Work Rules (for Trial Implementation), Suzhou Cultural Relics Protection Unit Law Enforcement Inspection Work Measures (for Trial Implementation), and Suzhou Cultural Relics Building Safety Inspection Points (for Trial Implementation), and urged cultural relics protection units at all levels to establish internal safety measures and emergency plans. On this basis, the implementation of the system will be promoted through continuous inspection and supervision, and potential safety hazards will be comprehensively investigated. Since 2020, a variety of safety inspections have been carried out, such as monthly inspection of cultural relics safety, special inspection of important nodes, joint inspection of relevant departments, mutual inspection between plates, and key inspection of people’s reports. Cultural relics departments at all levels in Suzhou have inspected more than 2,200 cultural relics protection units at all levels, thus realizing full coverage and no dead ends of safety inspections of cultural relics protection units in urban areas.
Safety of cultural relics is the red line, bottom line and lifeline of cultural relics work.
The relevant person in charge of Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism (Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau) said that in the future work, Suzhou cultural relics department will keep the bottom line of cultural relics safety, seize key areas and key links, and continue to do a good job in cultural relics safety. It is necessary to conscientiously implement the newly issued Measures for the Implementation of the Responsibility System for Cultural Relics in Jiangsu Province, carry out the pilot work of the announcement and publicity of the responsible persons of cultural relics, and constantly tighten the chain of responsibility for cultural relics safety. It is necessary to thoroughly implement the cultural relics safety project, further strengthen the construction of cultural relics safety prevention facilities and cultural relics safety supervision platform, and enhance the ability of hidden danger investigation and protection. It is necessary to carry out a special action to investigate the hidden dangers of immovable revolutionary cultural relics. It is necessary to continuously promote the pre-reform of large-scale capital construction archaeology and promote the coordinated development of cultural relics protection and urban construction. It is necessary to carry out the construction of the national demonstration zone for the protection and utilization of cultural relics in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, give full play to the role of cultural relics resources, and promote the formation of a new situation in the protection and utilization of cultural relics.
(Li Rui)