State Administration of Cultural Heritage: Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, 11,000 cases of cultural relic crimes have been jointly punished

　　China News Service, February 7th. The Supreme People's Court held a press conference on the 7th. Guan Qiang, deputy director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, introduced the protection of cultural relics and cultural heritage in accordance with the law.

Guan Qiang revealed that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, people's courts at all levels and cultural relics administrative departments have strengthened cooperation, punished 11,000 cultural relics crimes, recovered 170,000 cultural relics involved, and brought a large number of cases and criminals to trial.

　　Guan Qiang revealed that as of now, my country has 56 world heritage sites, ranking second in the world; more than 760,000 immovable cultural relics of various types, including 5,058 national key cultural relics protection units; and 108 million state-owned movable cultural relics.

The legal system has been continuously improved, and the "Regulations on Museums" and "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Underwater Cultural Relics Protection" have been formulated, revised and implemented, and more than 200 local regulations on the protection of cultural relics have been promulgated and implemented in various places.

Relevant departments of the central government work together to jointly issue policy documents, jointly deploy special actions, and jointly carry out special activities to strengthen top-level design and overall deployment. Inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms such as cultural relics security and lost cultural relics recovery and return play an important role. The strict management mechanism is becoming more and more perfect.

　　Guan Qiang introduced that for a long time, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Supreme People's Court have maintained close cooperation, the judicial protection of cultural relics has continuously made new achievements, and the ability and level of legal governance in the field of cultural relics has been continuously improved.

In 2018, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Supreme People's Court jointly signed a cooperation framework agreement to actively explore the establishment of a new mechanism for the joint construction, governance and sharing of judiciary and cultural relics, and the judicial protection of cultural relics has continued to advance in depth.

　　First, the judicial guarantee system for combating cultural relics crimes has been continuously improved.

The construction of the rule of law is the fundamental guarantee for the safety of cultural relics, and the fight against cultural relics crimes requires a sound legal guarantee.

In 2015, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly issued the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Harming Cultural Relics, etc., which further clarified the relevant standards for conviction and sentencing and the application of law. Case 6 is based on this judicial interpretation. Ancient cultural sites and ancient tombs that have not been identified as national key cultural relics protection units or provincial cultural relics protection units are included in the scope of criminal law protection, and acts of destroying cultural relics are severely punished.

At the same time, the identification of cultural relics involved in the case is an important basis for case investigation and judicial trial, and is one of the important links in the fight against cultural relics crimes.

In June 2018, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Ministry of Public Security, and the General Administration of Customs jointly issued the "Administrative Measures for the Appraisal and Evaluation of Cultural Relics Involved in Cases" to standardize the appraisal institutions, personnel, procedures and work discipline of cultural relics involved in cases.

Since 2020, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage has approved the establishment of 62 cultural relics identification and evaluation institutions involved in the case, which have identified more than 890,000 pieces (sets) of items involved in the case, providing strong professional support for combating cultural relics crimes.

In August 2022, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage jointly issued the "Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Handling of Criminal Cases Obstructing the Management of Cultural Relics", which further clarified the application of laws that urgently need to be resolved in combating cultural relics crimes. Better guide the practice of handling cases.

　　The second is that the joint punishment of cultural relics crimes has continued to increase.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, people's courts at all levels and cultural relics administrative departments have strengthened cooperation, punished 11,000 cases of cultural relics crimes, recovered 170,000 pieces of cultural relics involved in the case, and a large number of cases and criminals have been tried by justice, such as Case 5 Liaoning Chaoyang University In the case of the robbery and excavation of ancient cultural relics and ancient tombs, the principal culprit Yao was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve; in addition, there was an extremely serious case of robbery and reselling of cultural relics in Meishan, Sichuan. The principal culprits Wang and Liang were sentenced to 10 years in prison; In the cultural relics case, the main culprits, Song and Wang, were sentenced to 14 years and 6 months and 14 years in prison, respectively.

At the same time, continue to increase the punishment of acts of vandalism, and guide law enforcement in Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi and other places in accordance with the law.

For example, in the handling of cases such as the illegal construction of the Northeast Lecture Hall in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, and the destruction of the Jinshan Han Tombs in Linyi, Shandong, the administrative department of cultural relics and the people's court strengthened communication and coordination to ensure that punishment, rectification, and accountability were in place.

　　The third is to jointly promote the recovery and return of lost cultural relics.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country's international cooperation in the recourse and return of cultural relics has continued to expand and deepen. The intergovernmental agreement on cultural relics has achieved a total of 32 batches and more than 1,800 pieces (sets) of lost cultural relics and artworks have been returned to the motherland, which has effectively boosted the national spirit, boosted national morale, and strengthened cultural confidence.

In March 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Italy and witnessed the return of 796 pieces (sets) of Chinese cultural relics and artworks by the Italian government to China with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

In August of the same year, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage worked closely with relevant departments to recover eight stolen Zeng Boke father bronze assemblies from Japan for the first time under the framework of the "1970 Convention".

The trial, verdict and related work of Case 11 released this time, "Zhang Gongzu Shixiang" case, has attracted much attention at home and abroad. The justice has been advocated, and it has been highly concerned and widely praised by the whole society, including the cultural and museum circles.

This case is the "first case" in my country's pursuit of lost overseas cultural relics, and it has opened up a new way to recover lost overseas cultural relics through civil litigation, which has pioneering demonstration significance.

　　The fourth is to establish the Cultural Relics Judicial Research Branch of the China Judicial Research Association and its expert committee.

In recent years, through the joint efforts of cultural relics, judicial, public security and other departments, the security situation of cultural relics has improved, but various security risks such as illegal cultural relic legal persons, cultural relics crimes such as theft and excavation, and fire accidents are still prominent, and the protection and management of cultural relics are still weak. The task of prevention and control is very heavy.

The Supreme People's Court approved the establishment of the Cultural Relics Judicial Research Branch and its expert committee in the China Judicial Research Association, which is conducive to strengthening the legal theory research and expert consultation on cultural relics, promoting the legal construction of cultural heritage protection with greater efforts, and further promoting the deep integration of judicial research and cultural relics protection , and better build a judicial protection system for cultural relics with Chinese characteristics.

Before the Spring Festival, the Cultural Relics Judicial Research Branch has been officially established.

In the future, we will give full play to the active role of research institutions, promote the revision of the Cultural Relics Protection Law, popularize the legal knowledge of cultural relics protection through case interpretation, carry out forward-looking theoretical research on the prevention of cultural relics crimes and the connection of executions, and provide expert review opinions for the construction of cultural relics protection systems .