[Basic Facts of the Case].
Defendants Li and Gong hired defendants Wang and Zhao to bring back wild ginseng harvested in Russia to China, and on September 11, 2023, they illegally crossed the border between China and Russia and crossed the border into Russia on foot. On September 13 of the same year, after the defendants Wang and Zhao received the ginseng, they returned to China on foot, connected with the defendants Li and Gong, and handed over four wild ginseng to the defendant Li, and the defendant Li paid 60,000 yuan in employment fees to the defendants Wang and Zhao. After identification, ginseng was included in the list of national key protected wild plants as second-class protected plants, and the four wild ginsengs smuggled into the country were second-class fresh wild ginseng, worth 550 600 yuan. The four defendants were sentenced to corresponding penalties for the crime of smuggling goods and articles prohibited by the state from being imported or exported.
[Judge's Statement].
The crime of smuggling goods and articles prohibited by the state from being imported or exported refers to the act of smuggling cultural relics, ** and other precious metals that are prohibited from being exported by the state, or smuggling goods and articles such as precious animals and their products, rare plants and their products that are prohibited from being imported or exported by the state. "Rare plants" include countries included in the List of Wild Plants under National Key Protection.
In the first and second level of protected wild plants, in accordance with the relevant judicial interpretations, the smuggling of rare plants in the amount of 200,000 yuan or more may constitute this crime. The four defendants in this case were motivated by profit, and took risks in order to seek illegal benefits, and smuggled wild ginseng, a wild plant under national second-class key protection, worth more than 50 yuan from abroad, which constituted the crime of smuggling goods and articles prohibited by the state from being imported and exported, and should be severely punished.
[Link to the law].
Article 151, Paragraph 3 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China Whoever smuggles rare plants and their products or other goods or articles prohibited by the state from being imported or exported shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or short-term detention and/or a fine; where the circumstances are serious, a sentence of five or more years imprisonment and a concurrent fine is to be given.
Article 11, Paragraph 1 of the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Smuggling In any of the following circumstances, smuggling goods or articles prohibited by the state from being imported or exported shall be sentenced to up to five years imprisonment or short-term detention and/or a fine in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 3 of Criminal Law article 151:
1) Smuggling 5 or more but less than 25 wild plants under national first-class protection, 10 or more but less than 50 wild plants under national second-class protection, or rare plants and rare plant products with an amount of between 200,000 and 1,000,000 yuan ......
Article 12, Paragraph 1: "Rare plants" as provided for in paragraph 3 of Criminal Law article 151 includes countries listed in the "List of Wild Plants under National Key Protection", "List of Wild Medicinal Materials under National Key Protection", and "List of National Precious Tree Species".
Wild plants under the first and second class protection, wild medicinal materials under national key protection, precious trees, wild plants in the appendix and appendix of the International Convention on Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and the above-mentioned plants cultivated artificially.
Written by: Hunchunlin District Basic People's Court Park Jingmin.
Editor: Zheng Libo.
Review: Yao Qiming.
Column co-organizer: Yang Yunliang, lawyer of Beijing Zhongwen (Xi'an) Law Firm.