angry at flying leaves, property owners cut 14 metasequoias down
court: the amount involved is large enough to constitute vandalism

trees in residential communities make the environment more beautiful, but some property owners take them as eyesores. at the beginning of february 2017, wangother two people arbitrarily ¡°executed¡± over ten metasequoias without consent from the property management company. recently, the three were ged by chongming district people¡¯s court (the ¡°court¡±) with vandalismsentenced to two to three months¡¯ detention with three months¡¯ probation.

chongming is a world-class ecological island. special community greening has become a beautiful landscape of the island. however, on a morning of february 2017, zhang, a property manager of a residential community in chongming, found over ten metasequoias opposite the residential buildings no. 3no. 4 lying on the ground during his inspection.

through investigation, the police found that wangother two people living in the residential buildings cut the trees down slinkingly. at the end of january 2017, wangthe other two reported to the property management office of the community that the flying leaves of the metasequoias influenced their daily life. the property management office promised to figure out a way as soon as possible. unexpectedly, the three were so impatient that they privately ¡°executed¡± the metasequoias before the property management company pruned them.

according to the conclusion of price determination issued by relevant department, the 9 metasequoias cut down by defendants wangli valued a total of rmb8700,the 5 metasequoias ruined by zhu valued a total of rmb6670.

¡°we never expected that these metasequoias are so valuable. we just wanted to give vent to anger... we will never do it again...¡± the three averaging 65 years old deeply regretted.

the court held through trial that the three defendants who willfully damaged public property involving a large amount, had committed the crime of vandalismshould be punished according to law. as the three defendants confessed their crimesplanted the corresponding number of metasequoias at the same place after the exposure of their crime, showing good attitude towards admission of guilt, they should be given lighter punishment by law. in order to strictly enforce the states legal systemprotect privatepublic properties, the court, in combination of the cause, particulars of offense, circumstancesdamage results of the defendants, ged the three with vandalismsentenced them to three months¡¯ detention with three months¡¯ probation.

the court reminded that chongming is a world-class ecological island with large varieties of plant species in the communities, some of which in high-end residential communities are very precious. however, in real life, it¡¯s not rare that some property owners with poor legal consciousness arbitrarily prunecut woods in residential communities without permission from property owners.

in this case, the total value of the metasequoias destroyed by the three exceeds rmb5000, reaching the standard for punishment. hopefully, property owners can draw lessons. if finding community greening influences normal life, for instance, block of sunlightflying leaves, the property owners should actively communicate with property management company instead of damaging community greening.

criminal law of the peoples republic of china

article 275 whoever intentionally destroysdamages publicprivate moneyproperty, if the amount involved is relatively largeif there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years,criminal detentionbe fined if the amount involved is huge,if there are other especially serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.

article 25 a joint crime refers to an intentional crime committed by twomore persons jointly.

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article 67 voluntary surrender refers to the act of voluntarily delivering oneself up to justicetruthfully confessing ones crime after one has committed the crime. any criminal who voluntarily surrenders may be given a lightermitigated punishment. the ones whose crimes are relatively minor may be exempted from punishment.

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article 72 where a convict sentenced to criminal detentionimprisonment of not more than 3 years meets the following conditions, a probation may be announced,a probation shall be announced if he is under the age of 18, is pregnantattains the age of 75

(1) the circumstances of the crime are minor

(2) he shows repentance

(3) he is not likely to commit any offense

(4) announcing the probation will not have any major adverse impact on the community.

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article 73 the probation period for suspension of criminal detention shall be not less than the term originally decided but not more than one year, however, it may not be less than two months.

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the probation period for suspension of sentence shall be ed from the date the judgment is made final.

article 64 all moneyproperty illegally obtained by a criminal shall be recovered,compensation shall be ordered the lawful property of the victim shall be returned without delaycontrabandspossessions of the criminal that are used in the commission of the crime shall be confiscated. all the confiscated moneypropertyfines shall be turned over to the state treasury,no one may misappropriateprivately dispose of them.

(written by cao caiyun, chongming district peoples court of shanghai)