The process of amending the Criminal Procedure Law has sparked heated discussions: Implementing "controlling power and protecting rights"

China News Service, Beijing, November 7 (Reporters Zhang Su and Xie Yanbing) The draft amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law has been submitted to the 25th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress for initial review. During the group deliberation, participants believed that this revision reflects the progress of the rule of law and implements "controlling power and protecting rights", which will provide a strong legal guarantee for further comprehensively promoting Chinese-style modernization.

As the basic law that regulates criminal procedure activities, the Criminal Procedure Law is known as the "mini-constitution". This law was passed in July 1979 and subsequently revised in 1996, 2012, and 2018.

There are 55 articles in the draft submitted for review this time, which respond to issues such as the seizure, seizure, freezing of property involved in the case, and residential surveillance in a designated residence that are of widespread concern to the society. From improving the provisions on the principle of presumption of innocence to strengthening the protection of victims' rights, the draft implements the spirit of strengthening human rights law enforcement and judicial protection.

The draft clearly states, “No one may be convicted without being judged by the people’s court in accordance with the law. The presumption of guilt is prohibited.” This is considered to have captured the crux of the issue of judicial fairness.

Wang Ke, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said that the root cause of some unjust cases lies in the presumption of guilt in case handling. Only by writing the question of innocence and prohibiting the presumption of guilt into law and implementing "controlling power and protecting rights" can we truly build a strong defense line for judicial fairness and justice.

"Revising the law cannot be satisfied with just adding a sentence." Fan Xiaojun, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, suggested adjusting the corresponding provisions, including further defining the guiding position of "prohibition of presumption of guilt" in this law, defining the conduct of presumption of guilt that should be prohibited, and defining the supervision and correction of presumption of guilt and procedural sanctions.

The issue of recovery of property involved in the case has also been included in the criminal proceedings.

The draft adds general requirements for taking measures to seal, detain, and freeze, emphasizing that property attributes should be strictly distinguished, the scope of measures taken should be standardized, and the adverse impact on normal business activities should be reduced.

Wang Hongxiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said that in the past, enforcement measures against property were "relatively extensive." This revision refines the regulations and requires distinguishing between legal property and illegal income, other illegal income, and personal property and family members' property.

Zhang Xuan, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, noted that in practice, there are situations such as excessive value seizure and excessive seizure time, and suggested further regulating the scope of property targets.

Shi Yaobin, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, suggested that it be clarified that when public security organs seize, detain, or freeze property involved in a case in another place, they should report it to the People's Procuratorate at the same level for approval. At the same time, the People's Procuratorate at the same level should report it to the People's Procuratorate where the property involved in the case is located for filing, "thus strengthening the restriction and supervision of illegal and illegal law enforcement and profit-seeking law enforcement in other places."

In practice, some public security organs keep the case pending for a long time after filing it, interfering with the normal production and operation of enterprises. Shi Yaobin suggested that the draft should add supervision provisions for case withdrawal.

The draft also makes provisions for improving the foreign-related criminal litigation system.

Tan Tianxing, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said that adding provisions to ensure that foreign criminal suspects and defendants are treated fairly and fairly in criminal proceedings reflects China's respect for human rights. It also stipulates that if foreign countries impose inappropriate criminal jurisdiction or adopt discriminatory restrictive measures on Chinese citizens or organizations, China has the right to take corresponding countermeasures, reflecting China's respect for international rules and the protection of citizens' rights and interests.

The draft stipulates that the people's courts, people's procuratorates, and public security organs should protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign criminal suspects.

Zhou Min, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said that when stateless persons are criminal suspects, their legitimate rights and interests should be protected in accordance with the law. Therefore, it is recommended to change "foreign nationality" to "non-Chinese citizens" to make the scope of protection more comprehensive.