Speaking of giant pandas, as we all know, they are key protected animals at the national level. When it comes to the golden eagle, most people are unfamiliar with it, and they don’t know that it, like the giant panda, is also a national first-class protected animal. For wild animals such as peregrine falcon, macaque and reticulated python, which are the second-class national key protected animals, most people have never seen them before, let alone named them.
However, some wildlife lovers first illegally hunt and buy wild animals such as golden eagles and raise them at home to satisfy their personal preferences, and then develop into wildlife traders who sell them through the Internet and transport them by long-distance bus to obtain illegal benefits. Most of these people are young people born after 1980s and 1990s, including doctors, chefs, college students and self-employed households. What is shocking is that they all know that the wild animals they sell are national key protected animals.
This morning, the People’s Court of Gulou District, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province held a public hearing in the first instance to hear the largest series of cases of hunting, selling, purchasing and transporting precious and endangered wild animals in China so far, with Yue Cailing, the president of the hospital, personally serving as the presiding judge. There are 25 people involved in this case, who are all over 23 cities in 10 provinces.
The first batch of 15 defendants, including Zhang, who was prosecuted by the procuratorate, illegally acquired, transported and sold 26 golden eagles, peregrine falcons, macaques, reticulated pythons and other rare and endangered wild animals under national first-class and second-class protection through express delivery and passenger vehicles. After the trial ended that day, the collegiate bench sentenced the defendant Zhang and other 15 people to fixed-term imprisonment and suspended sentences ranging from eleven years and six months to one year, and sentenced them to fines ranging from 40,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan respectively. Nearly a hundred people, including NPC deputies, community representatives and media reporters, attended the trial.
Female college students sell wild animals for profit.
Bus drivers have been sentenced to reselling.
Zhang, born in 1981, is an employee of a technology company in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. He usually likes animals very much, especially golden eagles. In May 2015, Zhang paid attention to and established a number of QQ groups about falcons, including trading information about eagles, eagles and other animals. Li is one of the friends in the group.
Born in 1985, Li is a bus driver in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province. He was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment and fined 20,000 yuan by the Qilihe District People’s Court of Lanzhou City in 2013 for the crime of illegally purchasing precious and endangered wild animals. He was released from prison in March 2014.
One day in October, 2015, Zhang bought a golden eagle from Li at a price of RMB 3,500. After Li received RMB 2,000 paid by Zhang, he transported a golden eagle purchased from others from Lanzhou City, Gansu Province to Xi ‘an City, Shaanxi Province by long-distance bus transportation.
Because he is a WeChat group friend with Wang, Zhang asked Wang to help him receive the golden eagle. Wang, who lives in Xi ‘an, is a female college student in a university in Xi ‘an, Shaanxi Province. At the age of 13, she visited a friend’s house with her father. Because the friend opened a private reptile museum, Wang fell in love with wild animals and joined some QQ groups and WeChat groups. After receiving Zhang’s invitation, she asked her friend Wang, who had an admiration for her, to go to Sanfuwan bus station in Xi ‘an to receive the golden eagle.
After receiving the golden eagle, Wang told Zhang that it was a white eagle, and Zhang said that he didn’t want to buy it. Wang gave Li and Zhang 1,500 yuan and 2,000 yuan respectively to buy the golden eagle. Then, Wang entrusted Wang to sell the golden eagle to Kong for 6,000 yuan (handled separately) and transported it to Kong Liang, Dazhu County, Sichuan Province by long-distance bus transportation. After identification, the golden eagle is a national first-class protected wild animal.
After discovering that buying, selling, helping others to buy and transport wild animals can get a lot of price difference, Wang joined the ranks of illegal crimes, and successively helped others or bought and resold 3 golden eagles of national first-class protected wild animals, 1 falcon of national second-class protected wild animals and 1 macaque. One day in December 2015, Wang bought a macaque from Yang for 7,300 yuan, and then sold it to Wang Wenkai for 10,000 yuan, making a profit of 2,700 yuan.
Wang in the court, with a tender face. "I met Zhang and Li through the Internet. Selling golden eagles and macaques is transported by long-distance bus. I was taken away directly by the police at school. In fact, I also know that these wild animals are national key protected animals, but they are sold because they don’t realize that they will be so serious. "
In November 2015, Zhang bought a golden eagle online, and the public security organs seized it when it passed a security checkpoint in tongshan district, Xuzhou. Appraised by relevant institutions, the golden eagle is a national first-class protected wild animal.
Subsequently, Xuzhou tongshan district Public Security Bureau discovered through investigation that Zhang had illegally purchased and sold five national first-class protected wild animals, one national second-class protected wild animal, one national second-class protected wild animal, and one wild animal reticulated python in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora through QQ group friends.
Taking this as a clue, Xuzhou tongshan district Public Security Bureau has successively seized 25 suspects suspected of illegally hunting, buying, selling and transporting precious and endangered wild animals; All the national wild protected animals seized were registered according to law and handed over to animal protection organizations.
According to Niu Jiasong, the squadron leader of the investigation squadron of the Public Security Police Brigade of Tongshan Branch of Xuzhou Public Security Bureau, who detected the case, there are more than 30 WeChat groups and QQ groups involved in the exchange and trading of wild protected animals in Zhang’s mobile phone. The number of people in each group ranges from 100 to more than 500. The group members involve more than 20 provinces and cities across the country, and one of the group members who trade with them is an overseas person.
All 15 defendants pleaded guilty in court.
Expert explain that importance of wild animals in detail.
The "Legal Daily" reporter learned at the trial site that the 15 defendants were all young people born in the 1980s and 1990s, including one college student, one bus driver, two hospital doctors, private owners, migrant workers, unemployed people, etc. The youngest was only 19 years old.
During the court investigation, all 15 defendants said that the wild animals they bought, transported and sold were national key protected animals, so they all pleaded guilty in court. Zhang, the first defendant, said, "The reason why we know that selling these wild animals is illegal is for our own benefit."
In the process of proof and cross-examination, the court specially invited Hou Senlin, an appraiser of the Forest Public Security Judicial Appraisal Center of the State Forestry Administration and a professor of Nanjing Forest Police College, as an "expert witness" to testify in court, confirming that the golden eagle involved in this case is a national first-class protected wild animal, and the giant owl, falcon, peregrine falcon, sparrow hawk, sparrow hawk, prairie eagle and macaque are all national second-class protected animals; Reticulated python is a species in the appendix of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which is equivalent to the national second-class protected animal.
Hou Senlin said in court that wild animals are the common wealth of all mankind, and the number in the world is limited; Wild animals not only have economic value, scientific research value, ornamental cultural value, but also have ecological value. In the food chain, the "eating" and "being eaten" of animals and the reduction of the number will all lead to the reduction of the number of animals at the next level or even death and extinction, thus breaking the ecological balance. In serious cases, it will also cause ecological imbalance and be difficult to recover, thus causing the entire species or environment to be destroyed. Ecological value also has long-term and hidden value, and often the damage caused by this generation will not be reflected until the next generation.
Defenders of the defendant put forward in court that the defendant did not kill wild animals after buying them, but raised them as pets. Hou Senlin said that raising wild animals is unfair to wild animals, and wild animals should have the welfare of wild animals. If wild animals are thoughtful, they don’t want humans to treat them like this.
"Countries pay more and more attention to environmental protection, and improve the laws related to environmental protection. Nevertheless, illegal trade such as wildlife smuggling is still rampant, which is second only to drugs and arms in the world. In addition, the loopholes in the management of artificially bred wild animals, the serious phenomenon of eating wild animals, the serious destruction of wildlife habitats, and the death of wild animals in the process of trafficking, transportation and management have also accelerated the reduction of the number of wild animals, especially rare and endangered wild animals. Therefore, it is urgent to protect wild animals through legal means. " Hou Senlin said.
Many people who know the law and break the law were sentenced to heavy sentences.
The presiding judge explained the sentencing basis in detail.
After trial, the court found that from May to December 2015, the defendants Zhang, Li, Wang (minors at the time of the crime), Han, Huang, Wang, Gao, Wang, Deng, Tian and Wang made use of Tencent QQ and WeChat network communication platforms to get to know each other, and adopted long-distance passenger transport through payment methods such as Alipay, WeChat and bank transfer. Five golden eagles, two falcons, two sparrowhawks, one giant bustard, one sparrowhawk, one peregrine falcon, one macaque, and one wild python in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora were identified as national first-class protected wild animals.
Among them, the defendant Zhang illegally purchased five golden eagles and one reticulated python, and illegally transported and sold two golden eagles and one giant owl; Defendant Li illegally acquired, transported and sold five golden eagles; Defendant Wang illegally purchased, transported and sold three golden eagles, illegally purchased and sold a falcon and a macaque; The defendant Han illegally acquired a golden eagle and illegally transported a golden eagle; The defendant Huang illegally purchased one reticulated python, two sparrows, one sparrow hawk and one peregrine falcon, and illegally sold the reticulated python; The defendant Gao illegally hunted a falcon and illegally acquired a falcon; The defendant Wang illegally transported and sold a golden eagle; The defendant Wang Moumou illegally acquired a golden eagle; The defendant Tian illegally acquired, transported and sold a falcon; Defendant Wang Mouyi illegally transported and sold a falcon; Defendant Deng illegally bought a big cockroach.
After the trial, the court held that the defendants Zhang, Li, Wang, Han, Huang, Wang, Gao, Liu, Wang, Lai, Deng, Tian, Wang, Xu, and Chu violated the state’s laws and regulations on the protection of precious wild animals, knowing that they were protected by the state, they still hunted, purchased, transported and sold them separately, among which Zhang and Chu. Li has the circumstances stipulated in the first paragraph of Article 65 of the Criminal Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC), and is a recidivist. Wang and Han reached a serious situation, so the actions of the defendants Zhang, Li, Wang and Tian respectively constituted the crime of illegally purchasing, transporting and selling precious and endangered wild animals; The defendant Han’s behavior constitutes the crime of illegally purchasing and transporting precious and endangered wild animals; The defendant’s behavior, Huang, constituted the crime of illegally purchasing and selling precious and endangered wild animals; The actions of the defendants Wang, Liu and Wang Mouyi respectively constitute the crime of illegally transporting and selling precious and endangered wild animals; The defendant Gao’ s behavior constitutes the crime of illegally hunting precious and endangered wild animals and the crime of illegally purchasing precious and endangered wild animals; The actions of the defendants Wang Moumou, Lai Mou, Deng Mou, Xu Mou and Chu Mou constitute the crime of illegally acquiring precious and endangered wild animals; Fifteen defendants should be criminally punished according to law.
In the end, the court made a judgment on 15 defendants in the case. The first defendant Zhang and the second defendant Li were sentenced to 11 years, six months and eleven years respectively for illegally purchasing, transporting and selling precious and endangered wild animals, and the circumstances were particularly serious. Defendants Wang and Han were sentenced to seven years and five years in prison, respectively. Huang, Wang, Gao and Liu were sentenced to four years to one year and six months respectively; Defendants Wang Moumou, Lai Mou, Deng Mou, Tian Mou, Wang Mouyi, Xu Mou and Chu Mou were sentenced to one year’s imprisonment, suspended for two years to one year’s imprisonment and suspended for one year. Fifteen defendants were fined from 40,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan respectively.
According to Yue Cailing, the presiding judge and presiding judge of the case, Article 341 of the Criminal Law stipulates that anyone who illegally hunts or kills rare and endangered wild animals under special state protection, or illegally buys, transports or sells rare and endangered wild animals under special state protection and their products shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention and fined; If the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years and shall also be fined; If the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years and shall also be fined or confiscated. Moreover, as long as the perpetrator has any of the acts of "illegal hunting, killing, illegal acquisition, transportation and sale", it constitutes this crime.
"For example, the first defendant in this case, Zhang, illegally acquired five golden eagles and one reticulated python, and illegally transported and sold two golden eagles and one giant owl." Yue Cailing said that according to the Supreme People’s Court’s Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Laws in the Trial of Criminal Cases of Destroying Wild Animal Resources, the golden eagle is a national first-class protected wild animal, and the illegal acquisition, transportation and sale of two golden eagles means "serious circumstances" and four golden eagles mean "particularly serious circumstances", so the fact that the defendant Zhang only involved in the illegal acquisition of golden eagles is enough to be punished for more than ten years. Legal Network Reporter Ding Guofeng Ma Chao Legal Network Correspondent Zhou Qi
