Build an independent judicial environment
Commentator of China News Weekly / Yan Xiaofeng
Published in the 960th issue of China News Weekly on August 17, 2020
On August 4, the Jiangxi Higher People's Court declared Zhang Yuhuan not guilty and released as "the facts of the original judgment are unclear and the evidence is insufficient." For this day, 53-year-old Zhang Yuhuan looked forward to nearly 27 years.
Conscience should be the highest criterion. The conscience, courage, and responsibility of Jiangxi High Court deserve praise. However, appreciation cannot replace deep reflection on unjust cases. On the one hand, people hope to punish those who caused this human tragedy, and on the other hand, they also hope to reflect on the lack of the existing judicial system.
First of all, Zhang Yuhuan said that he was "extracted by torture, squatting on a stake with electric shock, and bitten by a wolf dog", and it is reasonable to verify and hold accountable these accusations.
Secondly, what should be reviewed is the shortcomings of the judicial system: the first is the "presumption of guilt", and the second is the evaluation index for the detection rate. In reality, the occurrence of unjust, false and wrong cases involves many aspects, including the inertial thinking of "presumption of guilt" and the court trial structure of imbalance between prosecution and defense.
Compared with the "passive rehabilitation" of the "Zhao Zuohai case" and the "Huge case", the difficulty and resistance of the "Zhang Yuhuan case" is obviously greater-because of the "presumption of guilt", Zhang Yuhuan was convicted without key evidence ; Because of the imbalance between the prosecution and the defense, there was no lawyer to defend Zhang Yuhuan when the Jiangxi High Court made its final judgment. The reason is that, under the guidance of the thinking of "presumption of guilt," law enforcement officials can easily extract confessions through torture. For torture to extract a confession, the principle of "who advocates, who gives evidence" often puts the victim in a very disadvantageous position. With limited personal freedom and lack of witness testimony, how easy is it to provide evidence against law enforcement officials?
The Fourth Plenary Session clearly stated that court trials should be the center. The essence of this is to eliminate the investigation as the center, adhere to facts as the basis and focus on evidence. One of the goals of the judicial system reform is to promote the "judicial accountability system", that is, "letting the trial judges and the judges responsible." All judgments can be traced and accountable, hoping to reduce unjust, false and wrong cases to a certain extent.
In addition, the important force to check and balance the "presumption of guilt" is to respect the rights of lawyers. The lawyer is a party in the court and an important force in governing the country according to law, so the rights of lawyers should be protected.
More importantly, the judicial system must also examine the evaluation indicators that lead to the detection of cases. The case detection rate is for the public security organs, such as GDP for government departments. Targeting the investigation and handling of cases, especially during the severe crackdown period, has caused countless unjust, false and wrong cases.
As early as the 2015 Central Political and Legal Work Conference, it was mentioned that various law enforcement and judicial evaluation indicators should be thoroughly cleaned up, and the number of criminal detentions, arrest rates, prosecution rates, guilty verdict rates, case closure rates, and case resolution rates should be abolished. Scientific evaluation indicators. Only by correcting the source of the assessment indicators can we minimize unjust, false and wrongful cases.
Of course, the occurrence of unjust, false and wrong cases is not a mistake in a link of investigation, but also problems in the prosecution and trial links. This involves the mutual checks and balances of public security organs, procuratorates, and courts in the entire judicial affairs. In an ideal judicial state, the chain of inconsistent evidence provided by the investigative agency will most likely be refuted, and the pressure on the evaluation of the case-solving rate should not affect the ultimate trend of the case. Therefore, the attempt to return to legal governance requires more efforts to build the judicial mechanism. On the one hand, it must strengthen the professional capabilities of procuratorial organs and courts, and strengthen the structure of checks and balances between the public, procuratorate, and law; on the other hand, it must pass personnel rights, financial rights, and administrative agencies. Separate and build an independent judicial environment.
Every exposure of unjust, false, and wrong cases is a harm to the rights of citizens and a blow to confidence in the rule of law. Compared with the activation of the national compensation mechanism, it is imperative to fully initiate accountability. Only by letting the people feel fairness and justice in every judicial case can there be less Zhang Yuhuan's life tragedy, and can live up to the efforts of the Song girls who "run for the ex-husband".
China News Weekly, Issue 30, 2020
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