判令返还！“章公祖师”肉身坐佛像追索案一审宣判

(Left) The Song Dynasty Buddha statue Zhanggong Zushi; (Right) a scanned image of the skeletal remains of the mummy inside the statue. /Xinhua

12月4日下午，福建省三明市中级人民法院对“章公祖师”肉身坐佛像追索案宣判，判令被告荷兰收藏家奥斯卡·范奥维利姆在判决生效之日起30日内返还“章公祖师”肉身坐佛像。该佛像1995年被盗，2015年展出后引发关注。

A Chinese court on Friday ordered a 1,000-year-old Buddha statue Zhanggong Zushi be returned to its original site in east China's Fujian Province within 30 days. The statue was stolen over two decades ago and smuggled overseas.

The Sanming Intermediate People's Court of Fujian Province pronounced the villagers of Yangchun and Dongpu in Datian County have the proprietary right to the Buddha statue and the right to recover the precious cultural relic. The relic is in the possession of the defendant Oscar van Overeem, a Dutch art collector, who allegedly bought it in mid-1996.

The verdict will come into effect if an appeal is not made to a higher court within 30 days, according to Chinese Civil Procedure Law.

小科普-“章公祖师”：

“章公祖师”俗名章七三，法号普照，北宋年间圆寂后被塑成金身佛像，供奉在福建省三明市大田县吴山乡阳春村和东埔村共同拥有的普照堂内。因其真身四肢和身首俱全，因而又被称为“章公六全祖师”。

 案件回顾 

1995年12月，“章公祖师”肉身坐佛像被当地村民发现遭人盗窃，村民向公安机关报案，但佛像去向一直下落不明。

Zhanggong Zushi, originally named Zhang Qisan, was a revered monk of China's Song Dynasty (960-1279). After his death at the age of 37, his body was mummified and encased in the statue. The statue was enshrined in the Puzhao Temple, jointly owned by the two villages and worshiped by the local residents, for over 1,000 years until it went missing in 1995.

2015年3月，匈牙利自然科学博物馆展出一尊肉身佛像，引起阳春村和东埔村关注。村民认为该尊佛像即为被盗的“章公祖师”肉身坐佛，福建省文物部门也表示初步确认展出的肉身坐佛即是20年前被盗的“章公祖师”像。持有该佛像的荷兰收藏家范奥维利姆随即撤展，他表示，自己是在1996年从阿姆斯特丹的一位收藏家那里购入的这尊佛像。

It resurfaced again at an exhibition in Hungary in March 2015, when villagers and Fujian provincial cultural heritage administration recognized it as the lost Buddha Zhanggong Zushi. In February of the same year, a scan revealed it contained the mummified remains of the Buddhist monk.

据报道，在此后的归还谈判中，范奥维利姆提出了福建村民无法接受的条件。

2015年底和2016年11月，阳春村和东埔村村民委员会先后在中国福建省和荷兰提起追索诉讼。

该案于2015年12月11日在三明市中级人民法院正式立案，并通过国际司法协助程序，成功向荷兰的被告方送达了应诉材料。该案经2018年7月26日、10月12日两次公开开庭审理，查明了案件事实。

2018年12月，荷兰阿姆斯特丹地区法院驳回了有关中国福建村民向荷兰收藏家追讨“章公祖师”肉身坐佛像的起诉，理由是不清楚中国的村民委员会是否有权提起法律诉求。

After an unsuccessful negotiation, the villages sued Van Overeem to demand the Buddha's return in Fujian Province in 2015 and in the Netherlands in 2016, respectively. The Amsterdam court of the Netherlands held the first hearing on the case on July 14, 2017 without a decision, while the Fujian court heard it twice in July and October of 2018.

Buddha statue Zhanggong Zushi is on display at the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest, Hungary, in 2015. /Xinhua

三明市中级人民法院审理认为：

• “章公祖师”肉身坐佛像作为集体所有的传世文物，于法而言，阳春村和东埔村村民对其的集体所有权受法律保护。

• 作为祖师信仰的信物，于情而言，“章公祖师”肉身坐佛像应当返还给信众村民。

• 作为人类遗骸的文化财产，于理而言，“章公祖师”肉身坐佛像亦当回归其原始文化氛围和故土环境。

三明市中级人民法院在判决书中表示，在“章公祖师”肉身坐佛像被偷盗、未经中国政府许可非法出口到国外后，阳春村委会和东埔村委会有权代表集体行使所有权，跨境追索，要求非法占有人返还流失的珍贵文物。据此，三明市中级人民法院依照相关法律规定，作出上述判决。

判决结果出来后，村民林文青在接受记者采访时表示：

“只要收藏家能归还‘章公祖师’，他可以和我们阳春村村民成为家人、兄弟，或是成为我们村民。‘章公祖师’佛像在收藏家手中只是文物，对于村民来说，却是千百年的信仰，期盼收藏家能尊重法理，考虑村民情感，早日归还，让‘章公祖师’早日回国。”

The Sanming Intermediate People's Court stated that the Buddha statue Zhanggong Zushi is an important token in its birthplace and long-term preservation place, which carries the spiritual sustenance of many local believers. Only after it returns and integrates into local people's lives, can it regain its vitality.

As a cultural relic owned by local villagers, its proprietorship is protected by law; and as the cultural property of human remains, it needs to return to its original cultural atmosphere and native environment, added the court.

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