The Zhou Jiang case disclosed by the China Procuratorate Network
Hunan Chenzhou City The Yongxing County People’s Procuratorate released a message on February 26 on the 12309 China Procuratorate Network: The former deputy director of the Changsha City Planning Bureau, Chenzhou City, who was prosecuted by the court Zhou Jiang, former executive deputy director of the Planning Commission, was sentenced to five years in prison for bribery and abuse of power.
As early as 2014, Zhou Jiang was prosecuted for job-related crimes. On June 6, 2016, he was sentenced to three years in prison for accepting bribes by the Changsha Yuelu District Court. On June 27 of that year, The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) reported on the Changsha Municipal Planning Bureau with the title "Changsha's city appearance was allegedly changed due to the Planning Bureau's case, and the two deputy directors alone gave away money for more than 100 real estate projects." The corruption case and Zhou Jiang’s sentencing. When he was sentenced for the first time, Zhou Jiang was deemed to have voluntarily surrendered, surrendered, returned stolen goods, and repented, thus receiving a light sentence.
Zhou Jiang was tried by Chenzhou Yongxing Court in December 2019. Yongxing Court Picture
Zhou Jiang was sentenced twice, and the time of the crime determined by the court overlapped.
Relevant judgment documents show that when Zhou Jiang was first sentenced, it took nearly three years from his detention to the time when the judgment took effect. Two months after the judgment took effect and was handed over to the penalty execution agency, he was found to have "repented" and his sentence was reduced by 7 sky. The Paper learned from relevant channels that Zhou Jiang was once again prosecuted in connection with the case of his former boss, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Hunan Provincial People's Congress and former deputy governor of Hunan Province, Xiang Lili. Xiang Lili was accused of accepting bribes of 66.67 million yuan and was put on trial on December 12, 2019.
Many legal experts believe that it is relatively rare for job-related crimes to be punished with additional sentences. Regarding Zhou Jiang's previous light sentence for "surrendering", experts believe that the discovery of an omitted crime in this case does not mean that the original finding of surrendering was wrong.
Zhou Jiang was tried by Changsha Yuelu Court in 2016.
The fallen official "entered the palace for the second time" after serving his sentence: he was sentenced to 5 years for bribery and abuse of power.
When his former boss Xiang Lili was dismissed, the former deputy director of the Changsha Municipal Planning Bureau, Chenzhou, had already been released for two years. Zhou Jiang, the former executive deputy director of the Municipal Planning Commission, was investigated again.
's resume shows that Zhou Jiang has successively served as deputy director of the Changsha Municipal Planning Bureau and deputy director of the Changsha Municipal Real Estate Administration Bureau. In February 2009, he was seconded to Chenzhou as deputy director of the Changsha Municipal Real Estate Administration Bureau and served as standing committee member of the Chenzhou Municipal Planning Committee. Deputy Director and Director of the Office of Chenzhou Urban and Rural Planning Commission.
In August 2008, Xiang Lili, the former director of the Hunan Department of Commerce, was transferred to Chenzhou as deputy secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, deputy mayor of the Municipal People's Government, and acting mayor. In the same month that Zhou Jiang was seconded to Chenzhou, Xiang Lili was elected mayor of Chenzhou City.
On May 17, 2019, Xiang Lili was announced to be subject to disciplinary review and supervisory investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission on suspicion of serious violations of discipline and law. On September 23 of the same year, the Supreme People's Procuratorate decided to arrest Xiang Lili on suspicion of accepting bribes.
On December 12, 2019, the Intermediate People’s Court of Liuzhou City, Guangxi held a first-instance public hearing on Xiang Lili’s suspected bribery case. Prosecutors alleged that from 2001 to 2018, Xiang Lili used his position as deputy mayor of Changsha Municipal People's Government of Hunan Province and chairman of Changsha Commercial Bank, member of the Standing Committee of the Changsha Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, and deputy mayor of Changsha Municipal People's Government, Hunan Province. Mayor of the Provincial People's Government of Chenzhou City, Secretary of the Chenzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of the Hunan Provincial People's Congress, etc., provide assistance to relevant units and individuals in matters such as land development, project promotion, enterprise restructuring, and project contracting. From 2003 to 2019, Xiang Lili illegally accepted property from relevant units and individuals through others, totaling more than RMB 66.67 million.
Zhou Jiang’s criminal facts recognized by the court this time also involve providing assistance to others in contracting projects.
The designated jurisdiction decision on Zhou Jiang’s case published by
China Judgment Document Network shows that on September 17, 2019, the crime In the case of suspects Zhou Jiang and Xue Qiong suspected of accepting bribes and abusing power, the Chenzhou Intermediate People's Court of Hunan Province designated the Yongxing County People's Court to handle the case in accordance with the criminal first instance procedure.
On December 27, 2019, Zhou Jiang was tried in the Yongxing County People’s Court for bribery and abuse of power.The Yongxing County Procuratorate alleged that from February 2009 to February 2014, when the defendant Zhou Jiang was seconded to the Chenzhou City Planning Committee as the executive deputy director and the director of the Chenzhou City Urban and Rural Planning Committee Office, he took advantage of his position, authority, and status to form Facilitating conditions, providing assistance to others in contracting projects, project site selection, planning approval, etc., and accepting property from others in the form of dividends on shares, low-price housing purchases, interest collection on loans, etc., totaling RMB 1.04 million and HKD 100,000. In 2006, while serving as deputy secretary of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Changsha Municipal Planning Bureau, the defendant Zhou Jiang violated the authority and procedures stipulated by law and abused his power, causing the country to suffer losses of RMB 22 million.
According to " Hunan Daily ", this case is the first case in which the Yongxing County People's Procuratorate has prosecuted a duty-related crime in which the defendant pleaded guilty and accepted punishment. During the trial, the prosecutor presented relevant evidence, and the defendant Zhou Jiang and his defender conducted cross-examination. The prosecution and defense fully expressed their opinions, and Zhou Jiang made a final statement, expressing his guilt and repentance in court, and accepting the punishment imposed by the judicial authorities.
On February 26 this year, the Yongxing County People’s Procuratorate announced that the Yongxing County People’s Court sentenced the defendant Zhou Jiang to four years in prison for accepting bribes and a fine of RMB 400,000; and sentenced him to fixed-term imprisonment for abusing power. One year and six months, after the merger, it was decided to execute a five-year prison sentence and be fined RMB 400,000.
Zhou Jiang was tried in 2019 Yongxing Court Picture
He had also been sentenced before: he was sentenced to 3 years for accepting bribes in 2016
As early as June 2016, The Paper reported on the bribery case of Zhou Jiang, the former deputy director of the Changsha Municipal Planning Bureau. Changsha Yuelu District Court sentenced Zhou Jiang to three years in prison for accepting bribes.
Zhou Jiang’s arrest was closely related to the report of Changsha businesswoman Lin Xizhen.
In 2010, Lin Xizhen had a house rental dispute with a real estate company owned by Zhou Jiang’s wife Xue Qiong. After Lin’s company was smashed, she filed a lawsuit against Xue Qiong Real Estate Company for damages in court. At the same time, through group text messages, Report Zhou Jiang through online appointments and other methods.
In May 2014, Zhou Jiang was announced to be investigated by the Discipline Inspection Commission. Before his dismissal, Zhou Jiang was interviewed by the media in response to an online post that reported him, saying that the conflict between his wife's company and Lin Xizhen's company was purely an economic dispute. "It has nothing to do with me. Someone deliberately posted a post to drag me into it." .”
But after that, Zhou Jiang was dismissed.
The verdict shows that on February 28, 2014, two days after Lin Xizhen sent a group report text message to Changsha leading cadres for the second time, Zhou Jiang received a notice from the staff of the Changsha Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and took the initiative to go to the office of the Standing Committee of the Changsha Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection to accept the complaint. investigation. Zhou Jiang was placed under criminal detention on August 22, 2014, arrested on September 4, and detained at the Hunan Provincial Detention Center. After the
case entered the litigation stage, the People's Procuratorate of Yuelu District, Changsha City accused Zhou Jiang, who served as deputy secretary of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Changsha Municipal Planning Bureau from 1995 to 2008, that he accepted when approving land use planning procedures for relevant real estate development projects. At the request of 12 real estate developers including the chairman of of Hunan Midland Real Estate Co., Ltd. and the former director of the Hunan Provincial Education Examination Institute, he used his position to seek benefits for them. From 2000 to 2011, he successively accepted funds from the above-mentioned units and individuals. The property totaled RMB 443,561 and USD 23,000.
The verdict all confirmed the prosecution’s accusations. The Paper combed through the verdict and learned that among Zhou Jiang’s 13 bribes, 18 properties of 12 real estate developers obtained benefits in terms of planning and construction applications or land use procedures by paying bribes to Zhou Jiang.
Public information in 2016 shows that since 2010, nearly 20 people in Changsha City’s urban and rural planning system have been investigated and punished, including 2 team members of the Changsha City Planning Bureau. Systemic corruption in urban and rural planning was once cited as a negative example by the Changsha Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection. A special court was opened to "explain disciplines through cases", and the Zhou Jiang case was reported as a typical example.
On September 15, 2015, after the trial of Zhou Jiang’s bribery case began, on December 15 of the same year, the property damage compensation case of Changsha businesswoman Lin Xizhen was ruled to be retried by the Hunan Provincial High Court.
On June 6, 2016, the People's Court of Yuelu District, Changsha City sentenced Zhou Jiang to three years in prison for accepting bribes in the first instance.
This is a lenient sentence.The court found that Zhou Jiang voluntarily surrendered when he took the initiative to go to the Discipline Inspection Commission for investigation after receiving the notice; after Zhou Jiang arrived at the case, he truthfully confessed the fact that he had accepted bribes from others, and he surrendered. The court gave him a lighter punishment in accordance with the law. Before and after the incident, Zhou Jiang withdrew most of the stolen money, had a good attitude towards pleading guilty and showed remorse, so he could be given a lighter punishment.
After being sentenced to three years in the first instance, Zhou Jiang once appealed.
The criminal ruling of the second instance of Zhou Jiang’s bribery case shows that during the second instance of the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court, Zhou Jiang applied to withdraw his appeal.
On June 5, 2017, the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court ruled to allow Zhou Jiang to withdraw his appeal, and the first-instance judgment took effect.
Zhou Jiang had his sentence reduced by 7 days.
was released from prison with a "seven days reduced sentence"
It is worth noting that the whole process took nearly 3 years from the time Zhou Jiang was detained to the time when the Changsha Intermediate People's Court ruled that he was sentenced to three years in prison. Therefore, after Zhou Jiang's judgment became legally effective, He was not sent to prison, but served his sentence in the Hunan Provincial Detention Center, and was released from prison early due to a reduced sentence.
According to the law, Zhou Jiang’s sentence shall be calculated from the date of execution of the judgment, but if he is detained before the execution of the judgment, one day of detention will be equivalent to one day of his sentence. According to the first-instance judgment, Zhou Jiang was detained on August 22, 2014, so his sentence ends on August 21, 2017.
"The execution of Zhou Jiang's sentence started after the second-instance ruling of the Changsha Intermediate People's Court was delivered on June 5, 2017. However, because he had been detained for more than two years, according to the law, the remaining sentence was less than one year. , can be executed in a detention center. That is to say, he only needs to serve more than two months in detention before he can be released from prison," said Luo Wanli, a law professor at Central South University of Forestry and Technology.
But in the end, Zhou Jiang did not serve his sentence until August 22, 2017, but was released early on August 14 of that year because his sentence was reduced by 7 days. A criminal ruling issued by the Changsha Intermediate Court with the case number (2017) Xiang 01 Xing Geng No. 1154 published by
China Judgment Document Network shows that on July 31, 2017, the execution agency Hunan Provincial Detention Center did have Zhou Jiang while serving his sentence. After showing repentance, he submitted a proposal for commutation of sentence and submitted it to Changsha Intermediate People's Court for trial. The Changsha Xingcheng District People's Procuratorate issued a procuratorial opinion and agreed to commute the sentence of the criminal Zhou Jiang.
The Changsha Intermediate Court found after trial that while serving his sentence, Zhou Jiang was able to plead guilty and repent, obey discipline; conscientiously abide by laws, regulations and prison regulations, accept educational reform; actively participate in ideological, cultural and vocational and technical education; actively participate in labor and strive to complete his labor transformation tasks. In the labor reform, be able to obey the arrangements and be active and willing to work. All property penalties have been paid.
The court believed that Zhou Jiang had indeed shown repentance and met the legal conditions for commutation, so it ruled on August 14, 2017 that the criminal Zhou Jiang should be reduced to seven days in prison (the sentence will end on August 14, 2017).
The day Zhou Jiang's commutation of sentence was approved was the day he was released from prison. But two years later, Zhou Jiang was again accused of corruption. According to the accusations from the Yongxing County People's Procuratorate, Zhou Jiang was convicted of "bribery-taking crimes" for the second time while serving as the executive deputy director of the Chenzhou City Planning Commission, and the "abuse of power" was while serving as the deputy director of the Changsha City Planning Bureau. All were "missed crimes" that had not been discovered before.
In response, Tsinghua University law professor Zhang Jianwei and Nanjing University law professor Di Xiaohua both told The Paper that in criminal cases, criminals are found to have omitted crimes and are tried. However, it is relatively rare for an additional sentence to be imposed for a missed crime in a job-related crime.
However, after entering the palace for the second time, Zhou Jiang was deemed to have "surrendered" for the first time and was given a light sentence. Later, it was discovered that he had not "confessed all his crimes" and was sentenced again. Is his "surrender" still valid? constitute?
Zhang Jianwei believes that the constitution of surrender does not require the defendant to truthfully confess his "all crimes". As long as the criminal facts under trial meet the conditions for surrender, it can be regarded as surrender. Therefore, the discovery of omitted guilt in this case does not mean that the original finding of surrender was wrong. However, looking back from the omission of guilt and looking back at the defendant's subjective malignancy and remorseful performance, it is debatable to give him a lighter punishment.
Three legal experts have different opinions on whether Zhou Jiang's "seven days reduced sentence" for his release from prison is legal.
On January 1, 2017, the "Regulations of the Supreme People's Court on the Specific Application of Laws in Handling Commutation and Parole Cases" were officially implemented.Among them, Article 6 stipulates that "the starting time for commutation of a criminal sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment is: if the prison sentence is less than five years, the sentence must be commuted after serving more than one year." Article 7 stipulates that "for duty-related crimes that meet the conditions for commutation, If a criminal...is sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of less than ten years, his sentence may be reduced after serving more than two years, and the extent of the reduction shall be strictly controlled in accordance with Article 6 of these regulations."
Article 23 of the judicial interpretation stipulates, “When a criminal who is sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment is paroled, the time to execute one-half of the original sentence shall be calculated from the date of execution of the sentence. If he is detained before the execution of the sentence, the period of detention shall be One day is equal to one day of the sentence." Article 40 stipulates that "the 'date of execution of judgment' referred to in these regulations refers to the day when the criminal is actually handed over to the penalty execution agency."
The day when Zhou Jiang was actually handed over to the punishment execution agency. , it was after June 5, 2017, that is, the actual time he served in the detention center was only more than two months, which does not comply with the above-mentioned judicial interpretation that requires at least one year of service before the sentence can be commuted. Both Zhang Jianwei and Luo Wanli believed that Zhou Jiang's previous detention in the detention center for more than two years was a coercive measure taken against him. It was in the nature of detention during litigation and could only be used to offset his sentence. "Therefore, Zhou Jiang does not have the conditions for a commutation of his sentence without major meritorious service and other circumstances. There is no legal basis for his commutation and should be corrected."
Di Xiaohua believes that "the sentence should be interpreted from the perspective of benefiting the criminal." The time in custody is also regarded as a probation period, which is theoretically consistent with the original intention of establishing a commutation probation period.”
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