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On July 31, on the occasion of the August 1st Army Day, the Supreme People's Procuratorate released a number of typical cases (incidents) in which procuratorial organs safeguarded national defense interests and the legitimate rights and interests of soldiers and their families in accordance with the law. One of the cases pointed to the "illegal flight" of drones.

Drone illegal flight is monitored as abnormal air situation

Sanhe City, Langfang City, Hebei Province is located at the eastern gate of the capital, and airspace safety is particularly important. On October 31, 2022, a unit in Sanhe City signed a commission agreement with a certain surveying and mapping institute Co., Ltd., entrusting the company to take aerial photos through drones. At about 10:00 on November 28, 2022, a certain surveying and mapping institute Co., Ltd. arranged Lin, who did not have the qualifications to drive a drone, to take aerial photos in the airspace of the area involved without applying for a flight to the airspace management department. The local garrison monitored it as an abnormal air situation, causing the relevant military forces to use multiple types of land and air equipment to participate in the verification and disposal. Its behavior seriously disrupted the management order of the capital's air control area and caused losses to national defense combat readiness resources.

On January 9, 2023, the Shijiazhuang Military Procuratorate transferred the case clues to the Langfang People's Procuratorate. After in-depth research and analysis of the case clues, the Langfang People's Procuratorate comprehensively considered the actual situation of the case and transferred the case to the Sanhe People's Procuratorate for handling in accordance with the law on January 29, 2023.

Procuratorate files civil public interest lawsuit

In order to identify the offenders and illegal facts in this case, the case handlers retrieved the administrative penalty materials for the illegal drone flights of the persons involved, and jointly with the Shijiazhuang Military Procuratorate visited the unit that commissioned the drone flight work to obtain key evidence materials.

After fully understanding the case, the Sanhe City Procuratorate believed that a certain Surveying and Mapping Institute Co., Ltd. and Lin had been engaged in drone-related work for a long time. They knew that they needed qualifications and approvals but flew illegally without authorization, resulting in abnormal air conditions and loss of combat readiness resources. The two should bear corresponding civil tort liability. On April 17, 2023, the Sanhe City Procuratorate filed a case against a certain Surveying and Mapping Institute Co., Ltd. and Lin in accordance with the law.

In order to reasonably determine the costs of loss of national defense and military interests, the Langfang Municipal Procuratorate and the Sanhe Municipal Procuratorate, together with the Central Theater Command Military Procuratorate and the Shijiazhuang Military Procuratorate, held a case seminar to exchange information on the calculation of the costs of loss of national defense and military interests in this case, and coordinated relevant troops to provide evidence of military resource losses, providing a reasonable basis for the procuratorate to calculate the costs of loss of national defense and military interests.

At the same time, because the specific loss of military equipment involves military secrets, it cannot be evaluated and identified by a third party, resulting in relatively weak evidence of military resource loss. To this end, the relevant troops of the Central Theater Command took the initiative to cooperate with the procuratorate and appointed two professional and technical personnel to testify in court as witnesses, providing strong support for the procuratorate's subsequent prosecution work.

On May 30, 2023, the Sanhe City Procuratorate issued an announcement in accordance with the procedures. After the expiration of the announcement, no legally prescribed agency or relevant organization filed a lawsuit. On September 18, 2023, the Sanhe City Procuratorate transferred the case to the Langfang City Procuratorate for review and prosecution in accordance with the provisions on the jurisdiction of public interest litigation.

On October 20, 2023, the Langfang Municipal Procuratorate filed a civil public interest lawsuit with the Langfang Intermediate People's Court in accordance with the law, requesting that a certain Surveying and Mapping Institute Co., Ltd. and Lin Mou compensate for the losses of national defense and military interests, and make a public apology in national media.

The two defendants were ordered to compensate for the loss of national defense resources and apologize in the newspaper

On November 24, 2023, the Langfang Intermediate People's Court held a hearing on the case, and representatives from the Central Theater Military Procuratorate, Shijiazhuang Military Procuratorate, and relevant troops of the Central Theater attended the hearing. Before the hearing, the Shijiazhuang Military Procuratorate submitted to the Langfang Municipal Procuratorate an "Opinion on Filing a Civil Public Interest Litigation against a Certain Surveying and Mapping Institute Co., Ltd. and Lin Mou", expressing its full support for the Langfang Municipal Procuratorate's filing of a civil public interest lawsuit against a Certain Surveying and Mapping Institute Co., Ltd. and Lin Mou.

During the trial, the Langfang Municipal Procuratorate fully presented evidence from five aspects: the identity of the subject, the facts of the entrustment, the illegal behavior, the loss of public welfare, and the legality of the procedure. Both defendants had no objection and expressed that they would seriously learn lessons and actively assume the liability for infringement. On December 4, 2023, the Langfang Intermediate People's Court made a judgment and publicly announced it on December 7: the defendants, a certain Surveying and Mapping Institute Co., Ltd. and Lin, jointly compensated for the loss of national defense combat readiness resources; the defendants, a certain Surveying and Mapping Institute Co., Ltd. and Lin published a written statement on Justice.com and the People's Liberation Army Daily to apologize. Both defendants have taken the initiative to assume civil liability and fulfilled it.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate pointed out that in response to the illegal acts of "low, slow and small" aircraft "illegally flying" that infringed on national defense and military interests, the military and local procuratorates worked closely together to conduct investigations and collect evidence, the local procuratorates filed lawsuits in accordance with the law, and the military procuratorates assisted and cooperated, providing a good example for handling military-local cooperation cases. As for the tort liability of the offender, the procuratorate requested him to compensate for the loss of national defense combat readiness resources and asked him to make a public apology in the national media, which would help educate and guide the public to know and strictly abide by relevant laws and regulations and enhance the national defense awareness of the whole people.

Beijing News reporter Xing Haiyang

Edited by Tang Zheng, proofread by Wang Xin