The judge announces the verdict on December 7, 2023.
BEIJING, Dec. 12 -- The Intermediate People's Court of Langfang City, Hebei Province, made a public verdict on a civil public interest litigation case, which infringed on national defense and military interests, filed by the Langfang People's Procuratorate on December 7.
In October 2022, the natural resources and planning department of the city involved in the case entrusted a surveying and mapping institute company to obtain aerial photos of the mining area through aerial photography by drones, which would be used to carry out the investigation of geological hazards in mountainous areas and the management of abandoned mining areas.
However, in actual implementation, the company, without submitting a flight application to the airspace management department, arranged for Lin, who had no drone piloting qualifications, to fly a self-assembled drone in the airspace near the place involved, without authorization, to take photos and survey.
This action was monitored as an abnormal aerial situation by the military garrison in the area. Relevant military departments organized multiple air and ground forces and equipment to participate in verification and disposal, which consumed a large amount of military combat readiness resources and resulted in a loss of RMB 121,910.85 yuan.
In this case, the surveying company and the individual Lin violated the aviation law and relevant regulations by conducting unauthorized drone operations. Such behavior has disrupted the order of airspace management, endangered national defense security, consumed military combat readiness resources, and infringed on national interests.
The procuratorate initiated public interest litigation against the parties involved, and the Langfang Intermediate People's Court of Hebei Province, after a trial, sentenced them to jointly compensate for the cost of the loss of national defense reserve resources and to make an apology by publishing a written statement of indemnity in the national rule of law media and military media.
