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Herdsman and government in court over found meteorite

(Ecns.cn)    09:04, March 22, 2017

Kenjiebieke showing the meteorite. [photo: thepaper.cn]

  Kenjiebieke showing the meteorite. [photo: thepaper.cn]

The People's Court of Altay of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China opened a hearing on Monday over the possession of a meteorite.

A written order shows that Zhuman Reamazhaen, a 61-year-old herdsman, reported the discovery of a "giant stone" weighing over 17 tons on his grassland in July, 1986 and the village committee and the town government decided to let him keep the meteorite. Another certificate shows that the grassland was allocated to Zhuman and his elder son Kenjiebieke in 1984. But the Altay government arrived with mechanical equipment and carried away the meteorite in October, 2011 while Zhuman was away. Since then, the herdsman and the government have been in a legal battle over possession of the space rock.

Zhuman and his two sons filed a complaint against Altay government at the end of 2015, hoping to get the custody of the meteorite and compensation for his discovering and keeping the stone. "They took the stone away without our permission. We demanded them to return the meteorite many times but they have not," Zhuman said.

The complaint, however, was rejected by the court for the reason that "carrying away a stone is not a civil matter, but instead deserves an administrative proceeding". However, Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture Branch Court of Xinjiang Supreme Court concluded last November that the case is actually in the range of civil affairs.

The Altay government states that its possession of the meteorite is written in Property Law: "Natural resources, including forests, mountains, meadows, mudflats, etc. are owned by the state". To the government, the "etc" part means that other natural resources like meteorites are also state-owned.

Sun Yi, attorney of Zhuman, accuses the state of manufacturing a loophole and denies the meteorite is covered under any state law, rendering the state's possession of it controversial. "The government took the meteorite away when the herdsman was holding its actual possession. It is against the law and the government should rehabilitate everything," said Sun, "the act of carrying away the stone itself was an illegal interference,"

To Sun, the meaning of the dispute is far more than just the stone itself. "If we do not offer award and compensation to those who discover and preserve meteorites, or even worse, collect them forcibly, the stones may be sold privately or traded out of the country," added Sun.

The stone was determined to be of siderite (meteoric steel), the value of which is comparable to gold. It is the second largest of its kind in China and ranks fourth globally.

It is a consensus that Chinese meteorite markets have always been in disorder, according to 21st Century Business Herald.

A meteorite weighing over 1 ton was privately sold by a Xinjiang inhabitant in 2000 and was found in America 5 years later. The stone was cut into pieces with a price of $300 per gram.

To Kazakhs, meteorites are worshipped as "the eye of Allah".

The case was called in court on March. 20, 2017 but no judgment nor sentence was passed in court. "The trial has a time limit of more than 5 months, so there is still a chance of reconciliation," said Sun.

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)(Web editor: Sun Zhao, Bianji)

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