Good mood to you, dear readers of our blog.
As a rule, what pushes me to write notes on the legislative topic of digging is another video with a title in the style of “I tell you where, according to the law, you can and cannot dig.” And then another story about the fact that “I don’t know the law myself, but here are people who know me.” they suggested how and what” And then there is the story about the fact that the boundaries of archaeological sites are protected by mobile network billing. Well, it’s like a person entered the territory of an archaeological site, and mobile operators immediately report the incident to the competent authorities. I pause this video and hang out trying to think in a positive way. Well, at least I stopped talking about reptilians and Great Tartary. The dynamics of the progressive state are already evident.
But, okay, let's move on to the essence of our note. I will note right away that the note will be brief and in it I will not reveal all the nuances and legal intricacies. Please take this material as a kind of core or guide to independent study of the laws. Why independent? Because if you don’t understand this yourself, not a single lawyer will help you. Well, somehow, I haven’t read a single case law where cops would turn to lawyers for money, and even good lawyers for good money, and they would bring the case to a dry conclusion and with a positive balance for the client himself.
Two articles that attract diggers. Criminal 243.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and administrative 7.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
The criminal article provides for up to 6 years in prison. Judicial practice shows that at the moment the most severe punishment under this article was three years of probation.
An administrative article is a fine of up to 2.5 thousand rubles and confiscation of a metal detector, shovel and pinpointer, if any. Judicial practice shows that 99% of all court decisions under an administrative article are a 2 thousand ruble fine without confiscation of MD
Criminal article 243.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The crime, according to this article, is not the search and or seizure of archaeological objects, but a set of actions that led to the destruction of the cultural layer. That is, a criminal article should be initiated only if destruction of a cultural layer is detected with proven damage in an amount exceeding 500,000 rubles. Until this point, all investigative actions must be carried out within the framework of administrative proceedings.
Administrative article 7.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. This article has so many vague concepts that it can actually attract a person even for picking a finger in a pot of ficus on the windowsill. This article applies to any excavation work within the boundaries of protected zones of archaeological sites. And an archaeological site can be identified in a rather extensive way. To do this, it is enough for an archaeologist to go to the site, point his finger in the ground and say. “I see here traces of human existence in past eras” And, nothing else needs to be done. Because, according to the current legislation, a land plot receives the protective status of an archaeological heritage site (OAH) from the moment of its discovery.
That is why, theoretically, you cannot dig with a metal detector anywhere on the territory of the Russian Federation. Even on beaches, plowed fields, vegetable gardens and in a pot of ficus on the windowsill. Why theoretically? Because, in practice, as we understand, in order to bring to justice, it is necessary to identify an archaeological site in the place where the digger was digging. If no such object was previously identified there. And, for this, archaeologists must come to the site. And, these are not ordinary archaeologists, but those who have the right to carry out work to identify archaeological objects. There are only 600 of them in our country. These are very busy people, especially during the field season. That is why they are extremely reluctant to respond to requests from investigative authorities.
A clear example is the story that broke last winter about a treasure of Kufic dirhams found by diggers in the Ryazan region. Three years passed from the moment of arrest and confession of the accused to the court decision. Simply because for two years they could not resolve the issue with archaeologists.
Another feature of the laws in the field of OAN is that it is a crime to operate on a land plot if an archaeological object was discovered there after the completion of land work. That is, if you are accepted into some conditional field where there is no archaeological object, but then, on that field, archaeologists identify an archaeological object, then you are a criminal.
Boundaries of archaeological sites. Determined either by cadastral passport. There are less than 1% of such objects in our country. Or at the coordinate point indicated in the passport of the archaeological site. 300 meters from the coordinate point is the OAN security zone.
Statute of limitations for administrative cases in the field of archeology. Legislation in the field of archaeological activities refers to the general set of laws in the field of protection of cultural heritage sites (CHH). And, if, in typical administrative cases, the statute of limitations is three months, then in cases in the field of OKN it is a year. There are several funny cases of judicial practice when citizens, having paid for a consultation with a lawyer in ordinary civil practice, decided to choose the tactic of delaying the consideration of the case, waited three months, there was a trial and then an unexpected person – guilty, a fine and confiscation of the MD.
Archaeologically subject. According to current legislation, no one knows what it is. The term “Source of Information” is not defined by law. Since this term hides a unified register of archaeological objects of the Russian Federation. A document that IA RAS has been preparing for more than 20 years and it is unlikely that we will ever see it. At the moment, an archaeological object is an object identified during official archaeological excavations within the boundaries of the identified archaeological site.
Until recently, employees of historical and local history museums were used to identify an archaeological object. Those, within the framework of the law, could point a finger at any inorganic substance and say that it was an archaeological object. From January 1, 2021, new laws in the field of state museums were introduced. Now museums can recognize as archaeological only those objects that were handed over by official archaeologists, identified during official archaeological work within the boundaries of the OAN.
Cultural layer. Nobody knows what it is, since there is no methodology for identifying the cultural layer approved by the relevant department. There is not a single case in judicial practice where experts brought in by the court gave opinions on the identification of a cultural layer at a crime scene.
Traces of human existence over 100 years old. Nobody knows what it is. There is not a single legally established method for determining what it is. Definitely, we can only say that the traces of human existence are not coins or other material things that can be recognized as archaeological objects. In the scientific literature on archeology, traces of human existence are understood by such terms as: ancient maps, chronicles and other written sources.
Well, I think I went over the basic terms. If I missed something, write in the comments, we’ll look into it separately.
And, a small clarification at the end. This material is for entertainment purposes only and does not serve the purpose of teaching or promoting evasion of criminal liability. The author does not have a legal education, and therefore this material should be taken as fiction.
