The Supreme People’s Court today released the latest judicial interpretation of the Criminal Procedure Law, which will come into effect on March 1 this year. Compared with the old version in 2012, the newly revised judicial interpretation of criminal procedure has added “trial of cases of plea of guilty and punishment”, “speedy trial procedure”, “trial in absentia procedure”, etc. The most controversial of them is the one involving serious crimes. One of the most controversial is that even if the suspect or defendant is outside of China for crimes that seriously endanger national security or terrorist activities, the courts in mainland China still have the right to conduct trials in absentia and dispose of the illegal proceeds and other property involved in the case.
According to a report in Apple Daily today, the Supreme People’s Court said that suspects outside China can be tried in absentia for crimes that seriously endanger national security and other crimes, and that property can be confiscated. The report said that when China amended its Criminal Procedure Law in 2018, it added a “trial in absentia” system, which was criticized by some legal professionals at the Time for violating the principles of natural justice. This time, the Supreme People’s Court has added “trial in absentia” to its interpretation of the Criminal Procedure Law, mainly to catch up with the 2018 amendments to the law.
According to Chinese media reports, the Supreme People’s Court today released an explanatory document on the Criminal Procedure Law with a special chapter detailing the “trial in absentia procedure,” which mentions that in cases of corruption and bribery, crimes verified by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate as seriously endangering national security, and terrorist activities, even if the suspects or defendants involved are outside the country, the authorities may apply the trial in absentia procedure in accordance with the law. The authorities may apply the trial in absentia procedure to issue a verdict in accordance with the law, and dispose of the illegal proceeds and other property involved in the case.
According to Articles 102 to 113 of Chapter 1 of the Criminal Law, crimes against national security include “endangering the sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of the People’s Republic of China,” “splitting the country and undermining national unity,” “armed rebellion,” and “terrorist activities. “armed rebellion”, “subverting state power and overthrowing the socialist system” and “defecting to the enemy and committing treason”.
In terms of speech, Article 103(2) of the Criminal Law provides for the crime of inciting secession: “Anyone who incites secession or undermines national unity shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years, detention, control or deprivation of political rights; if the primary elements or the crime is significant, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years.” Article 105(2) provides for the crime of inciting subversion of state power: “Anyone who incites subversion of state power or overthrows the socialist system by creating rumors, slander or other means shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years, detention, control or deprivation of political rights.” In other words, any dissidents who flee overseas will have the opportunity to be liquidated by the authorities by invoking the relevant legislation.
The court also said that for cases of guilty pleas, the law provides that “can” be lenient, but does not mean that “should” be lenient, if the violent crimes that seriously endanger public safety or affect the safety of the public, such as kidnapping, robbery, explosions, etc., even if the defendant pleaded guilty, the court can still impose a heavy sentence. The court may still impose a heavy sentence in accordance with the law.
In addition, in cases involving corruption and bribery, dereliction of duty, terrorist activities, triad organizations, and wire fraud, if the suspect or defendant is still wanted after one year, the authorities may apply for confiscation of the suspect’s or defendant’s illegal proceeds and other property involved in the case.
According to the report, there are allegations that the new interpretation of the Criminal Procedure Law by the Supreme People’s Court is intended to provide a legal basis for cracking down on criminals or suspects who have fled overseas but still have assets on the mainland.
Apple Daily said Cai Xia, a retired professor at the Communist Party’s Central Party School who was expelled from the Party, has fled to the United States to publicly criticize the Communist Party from time to time. She said on Twitter last September that her bank account in China had been closed and that the Communist Party had not only cancelled her pension, but that she could not even withdraw her savings. The CPC Central Party School announced on the same day that it had expelled Cai Xia from the party and cancelled her retirement benefits on the grounds that she had made remarks that had “serious political problems and damaged the country’s reputation” and were “extremely bad in nature and extremely serious in circumstances”. However, Cai Xia has not yet been charged with any criminal offense by the CCP.
In addition, no official figures have been released on the number of corrupt officials who have fled the country. However, in 2009, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) made public data that the number of corrupt officials who had fled the country was about 18,000, carrying 800 billion yuan. In recent years, China has launched a “fox hunting operation” to track down fugitives overseas. From 2014 to October last year, 8,363 people were successfully arrested from more than 120 countries and regions, and 20.84 billion yuan of stolen money was recovered. As for the rest of the corrupt officials still hiding overseas, it remains to be seen whether they can also be tried in absentia under the relevant laws and regulations or have their assets confiscated on the mainland.
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