China News Service, Beijing, February 4 (Reporter Zhang Su) The last revision of China's Criminal Procedure Law was in 2018.

To ensure the accuracy and effective implementation of this law, the Supreme People’s Court of China issued a new judicial interpretation of the Criminal Procedure Law on February 4.

  The new Criminal Procedure Law has 655 interpretations, which is the largest number of judicial interpretations in the history of the Supreme People’s Court.

Compared with the previous version, three chapters have been added: "Trial of Cases of Plea and Punishment", "Expedited Procedures" and "Procedures by Absent Trial", with 107 articles added, and over 200 articles have been substantially revised.

  What are the highlights of the interpretation of the new Criminal Procedure Law?

What problems will be resolved?

The reporter combined the press conference held by the Supreme People's Court on the 4th and recent hot topics to sort out the following key information.

  -All cases with a suspended death sentence will be heard in court.

  Execution cases with a two-year suspended death sentence are death sentences.

The interpretation of the new Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that all cases with a suspended death sentence will be heard in court.

In second-instance cases, a comprehensive review of the facts found in the first-instance judgment and the applicable law shall be conducted, with a focus on the issues or doubts in the first-instance judgment.

  Shen Liang, head of the Criminal Trial Division of the Supreme People's Court of China, said that this is conducive to preventing unjust cases and ensuring the justice and prudence of judgments from the system.

In view of the practical difficulties in holding second-instance cases with a suspension of death, he said that on the basis of fully guaranteeing the litigant rights and the quality of court trials, we must actively use the results of smart court construction, strengthen communication and coordination with relevant departments, and explore the use of remote video methods for interrogations and court sessions. Improve case handling efficiency.

  ——Even if the defendant pleads guilty and punished, those who should be severely sentenced must still be resolutely sentenced in accordance with the law.

  The leniency system for confessing guilt and punishing is an important institutional arrangement to better realize the unification of judicial justice and efficiency. It was established when the Criminal Procedure Law was revised in 2018.

  Shen Liang reiterated that to distinguish between crimes of different natures, the lenient should be lenient, and the stricter should be strict.

"For guilty pleas and punished cases, the law stipulates that'can' be treated with leniency according to law, not'should' be treated with leniency according to law." He said that for violent crimes that seriously endanger public security and seriously affect the people's sense of security, such as kidnapping, Robbery, bombing crimes, as well as cases of severe social impact and widespread concern from all walks of life, such as sexual assault of minors and other serious crimes that challenge the bottom line of the law and social ethics, even if the defendant pleads guilty and punished, the heavy sentence must still be severely sentenced according to law .

  On February 2, the murderer of the "Passion Fruit Girl Murder" Yang Guangyi was executed.

During the review, the Supreme People’s Court pointed out that Yang Guangyi was surrendering, but considering the nature of the crime, the circumstances and the degree of harm to society, combined with Yang Guangyi’s subjective malignancy, personal danger, and the specific circumstances of surrendering, it is not sufficient Punishment.

  -Implement protections such as transfer and placement for minor victims of sexual assault.

  The drafting team for the interpretation of the new criminal lawsuit stated that in accordance with the revised Law on the Protection of Juveniles and the Law on the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, the relevant provisions of the procedure for juvenile criminal cases have been revised and improved.

  It stipulates that in the trial of cases of sexual assault or violent injury to minors, when interrogating minor victims and witnesses, measures such as synchronized audio and video recordings shall be taken, and try to be completed at once.

It is necessary to strengthen cooperation with relevant departments to implement necessary psychological intervention, economic assistance, legal assistance, transfer placement and other protective measures for minor victims and their families who have suffered sexual assault or violence, and strengthen special protection for minors.

  Li Shaoping, vice president of the Supreme People's Court of China, believes that the interpretation of the new Criminal Procedure Law has further strengthened the protection of the rights and interests of minors.

  ——The defense lawyer can consult the audio and video recordings of the interrogation transferred to the court as evidence.

  In order to strengthen the protection of litigation rights, the new criminal litigation interpretation adopts specific system design to fully protect the defendant's right to defense and the right to obtain legal assistance, fully protect the rights of defense lawyers, and fully protect the rights of victims, litigants and other litigation participants .

  As an example, Zhou Jiahai, deputy director of the Research Office of the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China, said that the new Criminal Procedure Interpretation clearly stipulates that the people’s court shall allow the people’s court to approve the audio and video recordings of interrogations transferred to the people’s court as evidence.

  —— Proposals for amendment of the law will be proposed for cases where consecutive pregnancy is used to evade punishment.

  Standardizing the procedures for merging and dividing cases, adding regulations on remand for retrials, and improving the regulations on appeals without penalty... Faced with new problems in criminal trials, the judicial department continues to respond with system creation.

However, there are still some problems to be solved.

  For example, in practice, there are often cases of evading execution of penalties through consecutive pregnancy, and there are opinions that the period of execution outside prison should not be included in the execution period.

Zhou Jiahai said that although this view is substantively reasonable, according to the provisions of the Chinese Criminal Procedure Law, only those who have been defrauded by illegal means such as bribery to be temporarily served outside of prison or escaped during the period of execution will not be counted into the execution period. Therefore, judicial interpretation does not have the power to make provisions, and can only make suggestions for future legislative amendments.

  For another example, the drafting group of the new criminal litigation interpretation stated that only the basic framework of the trial procedure in absentia will be constructed, and the specific issues of its judicial application will be separately provided for through special judicial interpretations.

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