An objective analysis of detentions, cases and trials of diggers under administrative article 7.15

Good mood to you, dear readers of our blog. Today I want to analyze the legality of instrumental search in the simplest and most accessible form for the average person. This note will not contain links to real cases, analysis of laws and disclosure of legal formulations. Everything will be simple, clear and hopefully not confusing.

Statistics that can reassure you. Over the past 2020, according to the SudAkt database, no more than 30 administrative cases against lovers of instrumental search have passed through the courts of the Russian Federation. I note that these are statistics that do not include cases of remote, so to speak, disclosure of “malicious activities of black archaeologists” using photographs. There are a lot of examples of cases based on photos from social networks, really a lot, and therefore I am now working on this issue to write a separate note.

But, let’s return to the classic form of arresting diggers – “In an open field.” 30 cases per year for the whole country??? This is not even statistics, but a statistical error. Honestly, studying such cases based on court rulings, I’m trying to understand how they could even get to court??? Well, I don’t know how crazy or fatally unlucky you have to be to do this. And yet, sometimes I understand. Therefore, this is exactly what we will talk about today.

Everything has its own logic, design and consistency.

If, however, suddenly and unexpectedly your trip to the cops is in the midst of being interrupted by the appearance of police officers, you, first of all, try to understand who they are. If it is: a district police officer, a police officer or a duty squad of a local police department. Then, the outcome of this meeting will be expressed in your moving to another field, where local and vigilant citizens will not react so reactionarily to your presence.

That is, these are those cases when the police respond to calls from citizens in the style of “There are some strange people doing strange things and I don’t understand how to react to this…” This means that the police officers came to check whether a crime was being committed at the scene or not. ? And, in this case, 99% of all such meetings between diggers and the police end in a preventive conversation. We must understand that in these cases the police act absolutely within the law. Because only specialists who have passed state certification in this field can identify crimes against cultural heritage objects (CHOs).

If, as part of the task force, an investigator came after your soul, then the situation is much more complicated. There may be several possible root causes. The most common one is a call to the police from that same specialist in the field of OKN. Who is this? These are archaeologists who are working in this area this season. These are employees of the same State Inspectorate for the Protection of OKN. According to the law, inspection staff must check the condition of all OKN in the region every three years. Therefore, throughout the warm period of the year, they travel around the region on inspections and, during such travels, meet diggers. These are the directors of museums, museum-reserves and other cultural heritage sites for whom the kopari are already in trouble.

So, if an investigator arrives at the scene and a protocol of an administrative offense is drawn up, this means that 99.99% of your case will go to trial. And, in this case, as the same judicial practice shows, in 99.99% of cases the court of first instance finds the copar guilty of committing an administrative offense. Fine 2,000 rubles. And now, regarding the confiscation of MD – that’s up to the investigator to decide. I remember a real example from one case, the investigator wrote that the confiscation of the MD was impossible, because, according to the citizen , he broke the metal detector by driving over it three times in a car and threw the debris into a trash can.

The logic of our district courts for administrative cases is simple and real. If a person considers himself innocent, then the path is to appeal to the regional court. Among convicted cops, no more than one case per year is appealed to a higher court. And here there is also its own iron logic. The cost of services of lawyers with experience in highly specialized cases starts from a price tag of 40,000 rubles. At the same time, not every lawyer will take up the case after reading what the digger himself had previously told the investigator and the judge.

There is not a single case where, in relation to diggers, the courts of the second instance closed cases for further investigation or canceled previously issued decisions of district courts.

And in conclusion. I ask you not to write that we have some stupid laws. Archeology and protection of OKN is a very complex legal topic. And, if you yourself, personally and no one else, have a basic understanding of the laws and your own civil rights, then you must understand that the services of a lawyer are equivalent to the cost of a new metal detector. And then the choice is yours.

I hope that my note was useful to you. Don't forget to like and at least a few words in the comments.