The white paper "To seek happiness for the people: 70 years of development of human rights in New China" released by the State Council Information Office disclosed that from 2013 to March 2019, people's courts at all levels accused of 25,876 defendants in accordance with the law, ensuring that innocent people are not subject to criminal prosecution. Behind this seemingly simple number, there is the arduous journey of judicial reform in New China; it also uses vivid numbers to show the great progress in judicial and rule of law construction in New China; it further demonstrates the great achievements of the Party and the country in comprehensively promoting the rule of law since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
Legal persons will not forget that since 198html launched the "severe crackdown" in 63, the "two basic" case handling principles of "clear basic facts and true basic evidence" have once become the norm for political and legal organs to handle cases. Many political and legal organs and police officers use this principle to handle criminal cases. Although due to the "extraordinary" needs of social security governance in "extraordinary period", they objectively have also played a role in timely and effective crackdown on serious criminals and maintaining social security.
199htmlIn September 67, the report of the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed: "Please guarantee the people enjoy extensive rights and freedoms in accordance with the law, and respect and protect human rights." Human rights protection was written into the official document of the Party for the first time. In March 2004, "Human Rights Protection" was first included in the Constitution. my country's Criminal Procedure Law also clearly stipulates the principle of presumption of innocence : "No one shall be determined to be guilty without a judgment by the people's court in accordance with the law"; at the same time, the corresponding articles also clearly stipulate that "if the evidence is insufficient and the defendant cannot be found guilty, a verdict of innocence lies in the absence of evidence and the alleged crime cannot be established."
" Probable from No " is an important part of the principle of presumption of innocence. Its significance lies in: in the case where the defendant cannot be proved guilty and the defendant cannot be proved innocent, the defendant is presumed to be innocent. This fundamentally denies the system and backward practices of presumption of guilt.
The legal requirements on paper must become judicial concepts and creeds in practice, and there is still a long and muddy road to go. Especially some cases are easy to say but very difficult to do. Because in any case, as long as the suspect is arrested or the defendant is prosecuted, there is more or less evidence. If the evidence is insufficient, the people's court will acquit him, which will inevitably cause damage to some case handlers. Behind the wrong arrest and wrong prosecution, some case handlers will inevitably be condemned by public opinion and held accountable by their units, and even seriously damage the image and credibility of the case handler.
Especially in cases where courts at all levels declared innocent, the vast majority of defendants were investigated, prosecuted and tried during the second "critical crackdown" that began in 1996. Although the criminal policy at that time has improved compared with the "severe crackdown" in 1983, this "severe crackdown" still emphasizes "strictness" and "severe", and still emphasizes the functions of severe punishment and "punishment", which can easily bring more serious negative consequences; while some places, in addition to "severe and serious", still emphasize the requirement of "quickness", and even propose "solving cases within a time limit" to the public security organs, and propose "advance intervention" to the court case handlers, which is prone to problems such as lax review, evidence, and facts. Even if judges raise "reasonable doubts" about important evidence and important facts in the trial work, they often do not receive the support they deserve. In this case, the people's courts face huge pressure.
Fortunately, the rule of law is not shifted by human will. Under the active promotion of the Party and the country and under the trend of the times, She Xianglin, who was accused of intentional killing his wife, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for returning from his "dead wife", was reopened by the People's Court of Jingshan County, Hubei Province in April 2005, and She Xianglin was acquitted. In May 2010, Zhao Zuohai, a Henan farmer who was sentenced to death and was suspended for two years, was also acquitted by the Henan Higher People's Court. Although justice is sometimes late, justice will come eventually.
Spring river water warms the duck prophet. After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the concept of human rights protection has become more deeply rooted in people's hearts, and the principle of presumption of innocence has been better implemented in judicial practice.In March 2013, Zhejiang drivers Zhang Hui and Zhang Gaoping, who were accused of intentional homicide, were acquitted; in August of the same year, Yu Yingsheng, who had lost his personal freedom for nearly 17 years due to "intentional homicide", was acquitted by the Anhui Higher People's Court for retrial. The defendants in major wrongful cases such as the Hugejile pattern and the Nie Shubin case, which are more difficult to correct, were also acquitted. These defendants were acquitted not because of the "return of the deceased", but because of insufficient evidence, and their importance is self-evident. Since then, private entrepreneur Zhang Wenzhong was also acquitted after being detained for many years.
According to the State Information Office, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, courts at all levels have retried criminal cases through retrial and resented 8,568 . Among them, with a strict legal attitude and a courageous judicial spirit, Jilin Provincial Higher People's Court has declared guilty to Jin Zhehong and Liu Zhonglin accused of intentional homicide in accordance with the law in the past two years. These cases are vivid practices of courts at all levels protecting citizens' rights in accordance with the law and implementing the principle of presumption of innocence in accordance with the law.
Historical lessons and judicial practice experience repeatedly tell us that in order to achieve the presumption of innocence and prevent unjust and wrong cases, must first protect the right of the parties to obtain a fair trial. If there is no fair trial and if the trial is just a formality, unjust, false and wrong cases will inevitably happen or even in large numbers.
Secondly, we must vigorously promote the reform of the trial-centered criminal litigation system. Whether it is , the evidence collected by the public prosecution agency, or the evidence provided by the defense lawyer, they must be presented in court and must be cross-examined, so as to truly achieve "the evidence appears in court, something is said in court, and reason is justified in court", so that the court becomes the real center and core of criminal proceedings, and the court becomes the key to criminal proceedings and the key to guilt or not.
At the same time, it is necessary to strictly implement the legal principles of crime and criminal statutory , evidence judgment, and illegal evidence exclusion, improve the system of evidence collection, review and application, improve the mechanism for witnesses and appraisers to testify in court, and strengthen the trial function; ensure that the facts and evidence evidence in the case can stand the test of the law, and ensure that the trial plays a decisive role in ascertaining facts, identifying evidence, protecting the right to prosecution, and fair judgments.
Third, we must adhere to the principle of prosecuting guilt and resolutely prevent and correct unjust, false and wrong cases. Prosecutorial from innocence is an important system derived from the presumption of innocence. After my country's Criminal Procedure Law established the standard of "excluding reasonable doubts", , has improved the standard of criminal proof, marking a huge progress in criminal justice and the construction of the country's rule of law. The "quality" of evidence, the "quantity" of sufficient evidence and the "heart evidence" that eliminates reasonable doubts have been highly recognized by the judges, and resolutely defending the bottom line of the law has also become the inner belief and practical adherence of the judges.
Fourth, we must establish and establish correct judicial concepts, be brave to adhere to principles, and make judgments in accordance with the law. It is precisely from the wrongful cases that the judges have learned profound lessons, constantly transformed and upgraded the concept of criminal justice, firmly established the concept of "never wrongly accuse an innocent person" in their hearts, strive to protect the human rights of the prosecutor's lawsuit, exercise judicial powers independently in accordance with the law, strictly abide by the concept of statutory procedures, resolutely implement the principles of statutory crime and punishment, presumption of innocence, and procedural fairness, and in the trial work, be brave to adhere to principles, be brave to take responsibility, and make judgments according to law.
Fifth, we must give full play to the role of lawyers in accordance with the law to form restrictions and checks and balances for litigation and defense. In judicial practice, the litigation status of defense lawyers is undoubtedly weaker than that of the public prosecution agencies of the investigative agency. In law, the substantive powers such as investigative measures and investigative means possessed by the investigative and prosecution agencies are much stronger than those of lawyers. In the face of a powerful political and legal organ, any individual who is regarded as a criminal suspect or defendant will be difficult to prove his innocence and innocence without legal assistance from a defense lawyer.
: Because most defendants are not familiar with the law, they cannot make targeted defense opinions. Second, the majority of defendants have limited personal freedom. Even if they are released on bail, there are still situations such as unfree movement, and it is difficult to obtain self-evidence and self-reliance.Lawyers are professionals who have professional training and legal knowledge, and are capable of providing necessary legal assistance to suspects and defendants. Political and legal organs respect the litigation status of lawyers, give full play to the professional role of lawyers, and effectively protect the litigation rights of defense lawyers such as meeting, reviewing papers, investigating and collecting evidence, cross-examination, and debate defense. This is conducive to fair justice, but also effectively improves litigation efficiency and promotes the progress of the rule of law.
It can be seen from this that in just a few years, 5,876 defendants were acquitted by the court, which is not a trivial matter. Behind it, there are thousands of defendants and their families, and the legal rights of citizens are fully protected. It is also true that allows innocent people to be not subject to criminal prosecution, and allows "weak people" and "small people" to be protected by national laws and judicial law, fully demonstrating the great progress in the construction of the rule of law in our country .
Source: People's Court News
