On June 8, to mark China's Cultural and Natural Heritage Day 2024, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) released a batch of typical cases of public interest litigation for the protection of cultural heritage and relics.
The release of these cases aims to strengthen the systematic protection and rational utilization of cultural relics and drive the protection of cultural heritage through high-quality and efficient judicial case handling, serving as practical examples for the addition of provisions related to procuratorial public interest litigation in the revision of the Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics.
The eight cases released exemplified the basic requirements of high-quality and efficient case handling in terms of legal application, performance standards, and rectification effects. They are expected to enhance the precision and standardization of procuratorates across the country in handling public interest litigation cases related to the protection of cultural heritage and relics.
The released cases cover a wide range of protected objects, such as historical buildings, revolutionary sites, ancient relics sites and cultural relics related to overseas Chinese, all possessing significant social, cultural, scientific and economic value. In terms of legal supervision, these cases mainly involve violations such as damaging the appearance of cultural relics and the illegal occupation of cultural relics.
Since the beginning of this year, the SPP and the National Museum of China have established a long-term and stable strategic partnership following their signing of a framework agreement on strategic cooperation. Their extensive cooperation involves various areas, including the collection and protection of cultural relics, the joint organization of exhibitions, academic research, and talent development.
In the next step, procuratorial organs will continue to intensify their efforts in the protection of cultural heritage and relics and actively promote the improvement of the legal system for the protection of cultural heritage and relics.
