Have the farmers who dug orchids been sentenced?

In April 2016, Qin Yunhuan, who lives in Huangwan Village, Lushi County, Henan Province, went to dig medicinal materials on a nearby hillside and discovered three cymbidiums. On the way to take them home, he was arrested by the forest police. Seized. Subsequently, the Lushi County People's Procuratorate prosecuted Qin Yunhuan for the crime of illegal logging of nationally protected plants. He was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for three years, and fined 3,000 yuan.

The case attracted attention after being reported by the media. After seeing the report, Qin Yunhuan thought about it more and more and felt that he had been wronged, so he found an aid lawyer and started to appeal. On May 23, the Lushi County People's Court issued a "Retrial Decision", holding that the first-instance judgment had incorrect facts and wrong application of law, and the case would be retried by a separate collegial panel formed by the Lushi County People's Court. Three other villagers who received the "Retrial Decision" at the same time as Qin Yunhuan were also sentenced for digging cymbidium.

Qin Yun said that they were very happy the day they received the court's "Retrial Decision". The four of them held the "Retrial Decision" in front of their chests and took a group photo, as if they had been acquitted. In Qin Yunhuan's understanding, such a turn is not easy. "It was unthinkable before that they could admit their mistakes about me, a common man."

He now looks forward to a retrial and being sentenced to no crime. I hope that I can apply for state compensation after being found not guilty. I was exhausted physically and mentally by this incident. I couldn't go out to work and earn money. I had insomnia all night long. My son was seriously ill. I had to borrow money from everywhere for treatment expenses of about 5,000 yuan a month. "The family was in a state of insecurity." An unprecedented predicament."

In the early years, it was everywhere in the fields, "it is not a rare thing."

Lushi County is located in the west of Henan, at the intersection of Henan and Shaanxi provinces. , the eastern foothills of the Qinling Mountains. According to the county annals, this place is “crisscrossed with ravines, surrounded by mountains, beautiful mountains and clear waters, and rich in specialty resources.”

Huangwan Village is more than 70 kilometers away from Lushi County. There is a round-trip bus every day along the winding mountain road along the Luoshui River, which takes nearly 3 hours one way.

Here, like most mountainous areas, young people went out to work very early, while the remaining women and old people set up greenhouses at home to grow mushrooms, fungus and other crops. Later, it was forbidden to cut down trees, and they went to work in their free time. Dig some medicinal materials from the mountains to subsidize the family.

Qin Yunhuan has been engaged in drilling work in mines in Sanmenxia, ??Lingbao and other places for more than ten years. They often go down to mines more than 100 meters deep to drill holes for explosives. With a loud noise, the ore explodes, and the miners rush up to load the ore and transport it out. Earning 70,000 to 80,000 yuan a year, Qin Yun has been doing this "life-threatening" job for more than ten years.

Until 2015, as he grew older, he gradually couldn't bear the high-intensity physical work in the mines, so he returned home. He couldn't make money just sitting at home, so he had to go into the mountains to dig for medicinal materials like other villagers.

Qin Yunhuan and the villagers mainly dig up a medicinal material called "Bletilla striata", dig out its seedlings, plant them in front of and behind the house, and wait until they grow to a certain extent, then dig them out and sell them to drug dealer.

On May 27, I followed Qin Yunhuan into the mountains near his home. Every few steps he took, he would point out the Cymbidium orchid peeking out of the woods. In his memory, orchid grass is "not a rare thing". In the early years, it grew in fields and on roadside slopes. Most of it was inconspicuous and the villagers did not know how to distinguish the species. They were all called orchid grass. Every year from March to May, orchid grass blooms, with a rich and delicate fragrance. Villagers occasionally encounter this eye-catching "good grass" and often dig it home to plant and appreciate it.

Qin Yun said that around 2004, the "orchid grass" market was booming. 80% of the villagers in the surrounding mountainous areas went up to the mountains to dig orchid grass and sell it for money. The price was only 10 yuan or 20 yuan. Later, with the orchid grass market, When prices fall, villagers no longer go to the mountains to dig orchids and sell them.

The time that changed Qin's luck and destiny was on April 22, 2016. He and Qin Shuai, a fellow villager, went up the mountain to dig for medicine. On the way down the mountain, a scent caught his attention and he looked around. Looking for it, I found a few orchids blooming beautifully on the slope. So he and Qin Shuai each chose a clump of orchid grass, carefully dug it up, and hung it together with the medicinal materials in a cloth bag on the motorcycle, ready to take it home and plant it.

Subsequently, the two were seized by the forest police on their way home.

Illegal logging of nationally protected plants was sentenced to three years with three suspended sentences

In December 2016, the Lushi County People’s Procuratorate charged Qin Yunhuan and Qin with the crime of illegally logging nationally protected plants. Shuai filed a lawsuit. Subsequently, the Lushi County People's Court issued a first-instance judgment.

The trial verdict shows that the defendant Qin Yunhuan dug a clump of three orchid grasses without obtaining a wild plant collection certificate. The Henan Forestry Judicial Appraisal Center identified the orchid grasses he illegally dug. It is a Cymbidium in the genus Orchid. The defendant Qin Yunhuan was then found guilty of illegally logging nationally protected plants and sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for three years, and fined 3,000 yuan. Qin Shuai, on the other hand, was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 5,000 yuan because he also planted some other orchids at home.

At first, although Qin Yunhuan, who did not understand the law, was dissatisfied, he could only admit that he was unlucky. "Both the police and the court found him guilty, so can I still appeal?" Later, as reports There are more and more cases, and whether the Cymbidium orchid dug by Qin Yunhuan is a nationally protected plant has become a focus of debate.

According to the Beijing News, the "List of National Key Protected Wild Plants (First Batch)" includes nearly 400 species of plants, and there is no Cymbidium. The China Wild Plant Conservation Association also stated that Cymbidium is not currently a nationally protected wild plant. "Although some experts have proposed including Cymbidium cymbidium in the national key protection list, it has not yet been included in the protected list due to some legislative and other issues."

Lushi County Forest Public Security Bureau once said, Although Cymbidium is not included in the national list, because it is a plant in the appendix of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, it is listed as a key protected plant in Henan Province and "is now a key protected plant in Henan Province."

After seeing the report, the more Qin Yunhuan thought about it, the more he felt he had been wronged. He believed that his behavior was not illegal. He told me that slogans and propaganda such as forest protection, fire prevention, and deforestation are everywhere. Villagers know that it is illegal, but he has never known that digging a few bluegrass plants is illegal.

At the end of 2017, Qin Yunhuan contacted an aid lawyer and asked him to help him file a complaint. On May 10 this year, Qin Yunhuan filed a complaint with the Lushi County Court. He believed that the original judgment had unclear facts, insufficient evidence, and wrong application of the law. He requested to initiate trial supervision procedures in accordance with the law, initiated a retrial, and found the complainant not guilty.

Qin Yunhuan stated in the complaint that Huilan does not belong to the national key protected plants. The court of first instance determined that Huilan belongs to the national key protected wild plant, which was an error in the determination of facts. The mountains near my home are full of cymbidium orchids, and there are many large professional farmers who breed cymbidium orchids. There are many breeders, a large number and a wide variety of species, so Cymbidium is actually a common plant and has not yet been included in the first and second batches of "China's National Key Protected Wild Plants". On the day of the incident, it was just out of love for flowers and plants, rather than illegal logging knowing that they were national key wild protected plants.

The complaint also pointed out that the original judgment was wrong in applying the law. The application of international treaties by criminal law must be converted into domestic law, and citing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora violated legal provisions.

Qin Yunhuan: I hope to be acquitted and then apply for compensation

On May 23, the Lushi County People’s Court issued a “Retrial Decision”, holding that the first-instance judgment established the facts If there is an error and the application of law is wrong, the case will be retried by a separate collegial panel formed by the Lushi County People's Court. Three other villagers who received the "Retrial Decision" at the same time as Qin Yunhuan were also sentenced for digging cymbidium.

▲The four people who were convicted of digging up Cymbidium took a group photo after receiving the retrial notice. Photo provided by the interviewee

On May 28, the relevant person in charge of the Lushi County People’s Court was contacted He said that the time for the retrial is still unclear, and the parties will be notified in time if there are specific circumstances. Later, when I came to the Lushi County Forest Police Bureau, the office staff said that they would not accept media interviews on this case.

Qin Yun said that they were very happy to get the court's "Retrial Decision". The four of them held the "Retrial Decision" in front of their chests and took a group photo, as if they had been acquitted. In Qin Yunhuan's understanding, such a turn is not easy. "It was unthinkable before that they could admit their mistakes about me, a common man."

He now looks forward to a retrial and being sentenced to no crime. I hope that I can apply for state compensation after being found not guilty. I was exhausted physically and mentally by this incident. I couldn't go out to work, couldn't make money, and had insomnia all night long. He keeps his mobile phone by his side, fearing that "things will get worse" if he doesn't receive calls from the court, forest police bureau, township police station and other departments.

He said that during his probation period, he had to make relevant reports every month, study law, and perform voluntary labor... Therefore, he could not go out to work and could only farm at home, and his income was very low. Hard to guarantee.

In 2017, Qin Yunwen’s son, who was about to be a sophomore in high school, suffered from severe kidney disease and had to take a leave of absence from school to recuperate at home. He has to report to relevant departments every month and apply to take his son to Xijing Hospital of Xi'an Fourth Military Medical University for treatment. Qin Yunzhuan said that because he has no financial resources, the monthly treatment fee of about 5,000 yuan can only be borrowed from everywhere.

During the interview, Qin Yunhuan repeatedly attributed the main reason for the family's predicament to that penalty. He kept asking, "Do you think a retrial can lead to acquittal?" "Does acquittal mean that you can get compensation from the state?" Before he could answer, he began to mutter again, "It's probably difficult for us ordinary people... … ”

Ignorant people are most likely to commit crimes.

The news comes from NetEase.