On May 25th, 2024, the “Seminar on the Revision of Criminal Procedure Law and Criminal Defense and the 2024 Annual Seminar of the Criminal Defense Committee” hosted by the Criminal Defense Committee of the China Society of Criminal Procedure Law Studies was successfully held in Kunming, Yunnan Province. As an invited guest, Ms. Liang Yali, senior partner of King&Capital Law Firm and director of King&Capital Criminal Defense Research Center, was in Hong Kong to attend the Eighth International Conference of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), so she entrusted her assistant, Ms. Tang Wanzhuo of King&Capital Law Firm, to attend the seminar and make a speech on behalf of her. Ms. Liang's paper on criminal practice, “Re-amendment of the Criminal Procedure Law and the Expectation of Law Revision from the Lawyer's Perspective”, won the first prize of the conference's essay writing activity.
Opening Ceremony Scene
Nearly 70 people from law schools, scientific research institutions, judicial practice organs and representatives of authors of relevant award-winning essays attended the conference. This seminar, with the theme of “Criminal Procedure Law Revision and Criminal Defense”, is not only a reflection of the implementation of the spirit of the 20th CPC National Congress, but also an academic event for judicial practice and legal theory to discuss the in-depth development of the criminal defense system with Chinese characteristics, which is of great significance in promoting the improvement of the criminal defense system.
China Criminal Procedure Law Research Association, Jing Dali, president of the opening ceremony, pointed out that since the establishment of the Criminal Defense Committee has been 10 years of history, is the academic organization of criminal defense theory research specialization, is the backbone of criminal defense practice exchange specialization. Since its inception, the committee has been adhering to the theory, care practice, academic theory research, is committed to enhance the level of China's criminal defense theory and system construction, to promote the development of criminal defense refinement has made positive contributions.
Director of the Criminal Professional Committee of the All-China Lawyers Association, academic adviser of the China Criminal Procedure Law Research Association, Professor Gu Yongzhong of the Institute of Litigation Law of China University of Political Science and Law, in his opening speech, in the process of China's Criminal Procedure Law's fourth revision, we should not only modify and improve the relevant provisions for the realities of the criminal defense problems, but also look to the long term, and strengthen the basic theoretical research on criminal defense. Only when everyone in the whole society has a sober and correct understanding of whose right is the right to defense, especially the decision makers of legislation and justice can have such self-understanding, and everyone feels and believes that the right to defense is the right of each of us, will there be a criminal procedure law that truly respects and protects human rights as the core spirit, and there will be a perfect criminal defense system and adequate protection of the right to criminal defense, and there will be a It is only then that there will be a criminal procedure system capable of preventing the occurrence of wrongful cases to the greatest extent possible, and only then will everyone feel fair and just from criminal justice and from every case.
Ms. Tang Wanzhuo, paralegal of Ms. Alice Liang, speaking on behalf of Ms. Tang Wanzhuo.
In the first unit of the forum “criminal procedure law revision and the development direction of criminal defense” theme of the seminar, by the China Criminal Procedure Law Research Association, the secretary-general of the Criminal Defense Committee, vice president of the Shanghai Bar Association, Shanghai JingYuLin Law Firm, director of the lawyer XuZongXin presided over. Beijing King&Capital Law Firm senior partner, director of the King&Capital Criminal Defense Research Center, Northwest University of Political Science and Law, vice president of the Institute of Criminal Defense, Beijing Branch President Liang Yali lawyer (Tang Wanzhuo lawyers on behalf of the speech) that the core of the revision of the Criminal Procedure Law is to “trial-centered” into practice, from the rules of evidence, procedures and institutional design of the three aspects of the realization of the criminal prosecution law, to improve and improve the system design. From the rules of evidence, procedural improvement and institutional design of the three aspects of the criminal prosecution system to achieve a balance between the punishment of crime and the protection of human rights should be.
I. Rules of evidence
At the level of evidence rules, it is necessary to focus on the rule of excluding illegal evidence and the rule of reviewing and determining the evidence of both the prosecution and the defense.
For the illegal evidence exclusion rule, the scope of illegal evidence should be expanded, and the exclusion standard of verbal evidence collected by threat, enticement, deception and other illegal methods should be clarified, and the evidence collected by violating the major fundamental rights of citizens should be excluded. The procedural requirements for defense applications to initiate the exclusion of illegal evidence should be appropriately reduced. At the same time, it is necessary to appropriately raise the prosecution's requirements for proving the legality of evidence collection, and to promote the implementation of mechanisms for supervising and correcting errors, such as verification of the legality of investigative questioning in major cases and the questioning of lawyers' opinions, in order to prevent them from becoming a mere formality. Finally, to improve the “repetitive confession” substantive exclusion rules, repetitive confession exclusion system is a necessary part of the illegal evidence exclusion rules, but because of the broad exceptions to the conditions lead to their own failure, this loophole needs to be filled.
For the prosecution and defense evidence review rules, to clarify the differences between the prosecution and defense standards of proof and the defense evidence review logic and rules, the review of the defense evidence should pay more attention to the authenticity and relevance, while the legality of the review is secondary. Secondly, to promote the unity of the rules of proof of special criminal cases, how to promote the supervision organs, state security organs and other special investigative body of the case, such as black cases and other special types of cases of procedural provisions and the application of the Criminal Procedure Law on the systematic, holistic, consistency, also need to pay attention to the problem.
II. Procedural Improvement Level
Improvement in the procedural level, mainly around how to improve the property disposal procedures and how to regulate the phenomenon of “criminal intervention in civil affairs” of the two issues.
China's criminal adjudication involving property part of the implementation has not formed a consistent disposal rules, resulting in the criminal cases involving enterprises can not form effective constraints on the profit-oriented law enforcement. Secondly, the disposition of the property involved in the case of “penetrating thinking” is also in urgent need of standardization. Especially in the company's business wars, infighting and economic interest disputes, criminal means to intervene in the economic disputes of the case has occurred, “criminalization of debt” phenomenon occurs, which is in serious conflict with the principle of the law of crime and punishment. The criminal procedure law should be concerned about the phenomenon of criminal penetration of civil, and further improve the case supervision procedures and the disposal of property involved in the case, the legislative level to curb the criminal means of intervention in economic disputes, to avoid the abuse of the concept of “criminal-civilian cross”.
Third, the system design level
At the level of institutional design, it is mainly the institutional observation and outlook of the reform of the enterprise involved in the case.
First of all, China's compliance reform of enterprises involved in the case by tamping the foundation, columns and beams to the accumulation of thick into the momentum, and achieved a good political effect, legal effect and social effect. But on the other hand, compliance rectification faces many normative obstacles, for example: the original unit crime theory and enterprise compliance reform concept there is a contradiction, for effective compliance rectification of the enterprise leniency penalties when the lack of legal basis; Another example is that, the enterprise compliance rectification work cycle of several years with the judicial handling of the time limit there is a conflict.
This amendment to the law, first of all, to break the normative barriers, to clarify the enterprise to complete effective compliance rectification as one of the conditions of the statutory leniency, as well as to extend the time of the prosecutorial authorities to review the prosecution and the trial period of the judiciary, and so on. Secondly, we should actively innovate and construct the corporate compliance system, update the current non-prosecution system, expand the prosecution discretion and implement the corporate compliance system into the Criminal Procedure Law.
The incorporation of corporate compliance into the law will provide criminal lawyers with greater defense space when handling unit crime cases, and also create opportunities for lawyers to participate in a series of internal investigations and compliance rectifications, which will contribute to the optimization of the business environment.
Award Ceremony of the Essay Contest
Certificate of Award for the Essay by Ms. Alice Liang
In addition, the Annual Seminar 2024 “Criminal Procedure Law Revision and Criminal Defense” Essay Selection Activity received a total of 72 essays, and after expert evaluation, 22 essays were awarded prizes, with 6 first-prize winners, 8 second-prize winners, and 8 third-prize winners. In the Chinese criminal procedure law research society vice president, director of the criminal defense committee, zhejiang university guanghua law school dean professor hu ming held under the auspices of the awards ceremony, 22 award-winning papers on behalf of the author on stage to receive the award. Among them, the practice research paper written by Liang Yali lawyers - “the criminal procedure law” again revised a number of issues and lawyers perspective of the revision of the expectations”, also selected for the essay selection activities, and won the first prize.
Group photo of the participants
It is understood that the Criminal Defense Committee, as a branch of the China Criminal Procedure Law Research Association, adhere to the theory, care for practice, academic theory research as the main responsibility and main business, is committed to improving the level of China's criminal defense theory and system construction. This seminar brings together domestic experts and scholars in the theory and practice of criminal defense, together for the development of criminal defense system with Chinese characteristics, to improve China's criminal defense system, to promote the construction of the rule of law in criminal proceedings, has a very great significance. Criminal Defense Committee will continue to focus on the “Criminal Procedure Law Revision and Criminal Defense” specific development, rich research methods, innovative forms of communication, the formation of systematic seminar results, to the China Law Society and the central government departments to submit more valuable advice.
