Tuesday, 13 February 2018

"Tomb robber" gang sentenced to life imprisonment in N. China


Arrested suspects on trial
In 2017, the province of Shanxi caught 200 suspects involved in 121 cultural heritage-related cases ("Tomb robber" gang sentenced to life imprisonment in N. China Xinhua 10th Feb 2018):
Five members of a gang of tomb robbers in north China's Shanxi Province were sentenced to life imprisonment or death sentence with a reprieve on Sunday, the court said. The gang of nine were found guilty of more than 74 crimes in Wenxi County of Yuncheng City since 1993, according to the verdict of Yuncheng Intermediate People's Court. The defendants, Hou Jinfa, Hou Jinhai, Zhang Chengjun and Li Jinyu, were given life sentences for crimes including organizing gang crime and gambling, tomb robbery, and illegally possession of weapons. Another defendant Zhang Baomin, was sentenced to death with a two year reprieve for crimes including illegal detention, tomb robbery and drug trafficking. The other four members of the gang were sentenced to terms of up to 20 years in prison.
Collector, do you really know where those artefacts come from? Here is the 'provenance', Shanxi, but what is their collecting history?

How did the objects get on the market, who put them there? How did they leave the source country, who was involved in the 'transfer of ownership'?


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