In a continued effort to implement the Opinions of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Strengthening Legal Supervision by the Procuratorates in the New Era, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) has recently released 10 typical cases of criminal procuratorial protest.
These cases cover multiple areas of criminal prosecution, including general crimes, major crimes, crimes of dereliction of duty, and economic crimes. They include cases of procuratorates' protest in the second instance against first-instance judgments, cases of retrial protests filed to supervise already effective judgments, and cases demonstrating procuratorial organs' active role in legal supervision, and their efforts to conduct continuous supervision of cases affecting judicial fairness through second-instance and retrial protests.
The newly released cases focus on complex issues such as examination and judgment of evidence and application of sentencing guides. Errors in evidence acceptance are among the main reasons for criminal protests. In 2024, procuratorial organs nationwide filed 6,530 criminal protests, approximately 35 percent of which were based on insufficient or inaccurate evidence or the emergence of new evidence as reasons for protest. Four of the newly released cases involve issues related to evidence examination and judgment.
Accurate characterization and appropriate sentencing are vital for the fairness of criminal adjudication. Significant sentencing discrepancies and mischaracterization are primary reasons for criminal protests. Six of the newly released cases involve issues related to sentencing and application of the law.
The head of the SPP's Procuratorial Department for Major Crimes stated that the release of these cases is an important step in implementing the guiding principles of the National Conference on Criminal Prosecution Work and the National Conference on Exchange of Procuratorial Experience on Criminal Procuratorial Protest.
Moving forward, the department will continue to strengthen comprehensive guidance for procuratorates regarding the practice of criminal protests, with efforts to promote the formulation of rules for criminal trial supervision, thereby ensuring high-quality and efficient handling of every criminal procuratorial protest.
