"Regulations on Several Issues Concerning the Strict Exclusion of Illegal Evidence in the Handling of Criminal Cases"

Article 1 It is strictly prohibited to use torture to extract confessions and to collect evidence through threats, inducements, deceptions and other illegal methods, and no one may be forced to prove his or her guilt. The sentencing of all cases must focus on evidence, investigation and research, and oral confessions should not be taken lightly.

Article 2 Confessions made against the will of criminal suspects or defendants made against their will by beatings, illegal use of restraints, or other egregious means of disguised corporal punishment shall be excluded.

Article 3: Confessions made against the will of the criminal suspect or defendant due to threats of violence or serious damage to the legitimate rights and interests of the person and his close relatives, etc., shall be excluded.

Article 4: Confessions of criminal suspects and defendants collected through illegal detention or other methods that illegally restrict personal freedom shall be excluded.

Article 5: Where torture is used to extract a confession from a criminal suspect or defendant, and subsequent confessions made by the criminal suspect or defendant that are influenced by the torture to extract a confession and are identical to the confession shall be excluded, except in the following circumstances: except:

(1) During the investigation, based on accusations, reports or self-discovery, etc., the investigative agency confirms or cannot rule out the use of illegal methods to collect evidence and changes investigators. When other investigators are interrogated again, they will be informed of the legal consequences of litigation rights and confession, and the criminal suspect will voluntarily confession;

(2) During the review of arrest, review of prosecution and trial, prosecutors and judges inform the prosecutors and judges of their procedural rights and the legal consequences of guilty pleas during interrogation, and the criminal suspects and defendants make voluntary confessions.

Article 6: Witness testimonies and victim statements collected using illegal methods such as violence, threats, and illegal restriction of personal freedom shall be excluded.

Article 7 If the collection of physical evidence or documentary evidence does not comply with legal procedures and may seriously affect judicial fairness, corrections or reasonable explanations must be made; if corrections or reasonable explanations cannot be made, the relevant evidence shall be excluded.

Article 8 The investigative agencies shall conduct investigations in accordance with legal procedures and collect and obtain evidence and materials that can prove the guilt or innocence of the criminal suspect, and the minor or serious crime.

Article 9: After detaining or arresting a criminal suspect, he or she shall be sent to a detention center for custody in accordance with legal provisions. After the criminal suspect is sent to the detention center for custody, the interrogation shall be conducted in the detention center interrogation room. If the investigation agency conducts an interrogation in a place other than the interrogation room of the detention center due to objective reasons, it shall provide a reasonable explanation.

Article 10 When interrogating a criminal suspect, investigators may audio and videotape the interrogation process; for cases in which a person may be sentenced to life imprisonment, the death penalty, or other major criminal cases, the interrogation process shall be audiotaped and videotaped.

Investigators should inform the criminal suspect to audio and videotape the interrogation process and write this in the interrogation transcript.

Article 11 The audio and video recording of the interrogation process shall be conducted without interruption and shall maintain integrity, and shall not be recorded selectively, edited or deleted.

Article 12 When interrogating criminal suspects, investigators shall prepare interrogation transcripts in accordance with the law. The interrogation transcript shall be given to the criminal suspect for verification, and if he or she cannot read, the transcript shall be read to him. If there are omissions or errors in the interrogation transcript, the criminal suspect may make additions or corrections.

Article 13 The detention center shall register the interrogation and indicate the interrogation unit, personnel, reasons, start and end times, and the name of the criminal suspect.

When a detention center takes a criminal suspect into custody, a physical examination shall be conducted. During the inspection, prosecutors from the People's Procuratorate stationed in the detention center may be present. If the inspection reveals that the criminal suspect is injured or has physical abnormalities, the detention center shall take photos or videos, and have the detainee and criminal suspect explain the reasons respectively, and write it down in the physical examination record, which shall be signed by the detainee, detainee and criminal suspect. confirm.

Article 14: Criminal suspects and their defenders may apply to the People's Procuratorate to exclude illegal evidence during the investigation. If relevant clues or materials are provided to criminal suspects and their defenders, the People's Procuratorate shall investigate and verify. The conclusion of the investigation shall be notified in writing to the criminal suspect and his defender. If evidence is indeed collected using illegal methods, the People's Procuratorate shall provide corrective opinions to the investigative agency.

Illegal evidence identified by the investigation agency shall be excluded and shall not be used as a basis for requesting approval for arrest or transfer for review and prosecution.

For major cases, prosecutors stationed in detention centers of the People's Procuratorate should interrogate criminal suspects before the end of the investigation to verify whether there has been torture to extract confessions or illegal evidence collection, and make simultaneous audio and video recordings. After verification, if there is indeed a case of torture to extract confessions or illegal evidence collection, the investigative agency shall promptly eliminate the illegal evidence and shall not use it as a basis for requesting approval for arrest or transfer for review and prosecution.

Article 15: For cases where the investigation has been concluded, the investigative agency shall comprehensively review the evidence materials proving the legality of evidence collection and exclude illegal evidence in accordance with the law. After excluding illegal evidence, if the evidence is insufficient, the case shall not be transferred for review and prosecution.

If the investigation agency discovers that the investigators illegally obtained evidence, it shall deal with it in accordance with the law, and may assign additional investigators to re-investigate and collect evidence.

Article 16 When interrogating a criminal suspect during the review for arrest or review for prosecution, he or she shall be informed of the right to apply for the exclusion of illegal evidence, as well as the procedural rights and the legal consequences of a guilty plea.

Article 17 During the review of arrest or prosecution, if a criminal suspect and his defender apply to exclude illegal evidence and provide relevant clues or materials, the People's Procuratorate shall investigate and verify. The conclusion of the investigation shall be notified in writing to the criminal suspect and his defender.

If during the review of prosecution, the People's Procuratorate discovers that investigators have collected evidence through illegal methods such as torture to extract confessions, it shall exclude relevant evidence and provide corrective opinions in accordance with the law. If necessary, the People's Procuratorate may investigate and collect evidence on its own.

The People's Procuratorate shall exclude illegal evidence determined by review and shall not use it as a basis for approving or deciding to arrest or initiate public prosecutions. The excluded illegal evidence shall be transferred with the case and marked as illegal evidence excluded in accordance with the law.

Article 18: After the People's Procuratorate has eliminated illegal evidence in accordance with the law, if the evidence is insufficient and does not meet the conditions for arrest or prosecution, it shall not approve or decide to arrest or initiate public prosecution.

If the People's Procuratorate excludes relevant evidence and fails to identify suspected important criminal facts, and thus makes a decision not to approve arrest or prosecution, or decides not to prosecute some of the suspected important criminal facts, the public security organs and national security organs may request reconsideration, Submitted for review.

Article 19 If a criminal suspect or defendant applies for legal aid, a legal aid lawyer shall be assigned in accordance with relevant regulations.

Legal aid duty lawyers can provide legal assistance to criminal suspects and defendants, and handle complaints and accusations in cases of torture to extract confessions and illegal evidence collection.

Article 20 When criminal suspects, defendants and their defenders apply to exclude illegal evidence, they shall provide relevant clues or materials such as the person, time, place, method, content and other information suspected of illegal evidence collection.

Article 21: Starting from the date when the case is reviewed and prosecuted by the People's Procuratorate, defense lawyers may review, excerpt, and copy interrogation transcripts, interrogation registration, legal documents for taking compulsory measures or investigative measures, and other evidence materials. Other defenders may also review, excerpt, and copy the above-mentioned evidence materials with the permission of the People's Court and People's Procuratorate.

Article 22 Criminal suspects, defendants and their defenders apply to the People's Court and the People's Procuratorate for access to interrogation audio and video recordings, physical examination records and other evidence materials collected but not submitted by the public security organs, national security organs and the People's Procuratorate. If the People's Procuratorate deems upon review that the evidence materials requested by criminal suspects, defendants and their defenders are related to proving the legality of evidence collection, they shall obtain them; if they believe that they are not related to proving the legality of evidence collection, they shall make a decision The reasons shall be explained to the criminal suspects, defendants and their defenders for not requesting the request.

Article 23: When serving a copy of the indictment to the defendant and his defender, the people's court shall inform them of their right to apply for the exclusion of illegal evidence.

The defendant and his defender's application for the exclusion of illegal evidence shall be submitted before the trial, unless relevant clues or materials are discovered during the trial. The People's Court shall send copies of the application and relevant clues or materials to the People's Procuratorate before the hearing.

Article 24: If the defendant and his defender apply to exclude illegal evidence before the trial, fail to provide relevant clues or materials, and do not meet the application conditions stipulated by law, the People's Court will not accept the application.

Article 25: If the defendant and his defender apply to exclude illegal evidence before the trial and provide relevant clues or materials in accordance with legal provisions, the People's Court shall convene a pre-trial conference. The People's Procuratorate shall explain the legality of evidence collection in a targeted manner by presenting relevant evidence materials and other methods. The People's Court can verify the situation and listen to opinions.

The People's Procuratorate may decide to withdraw relevant evidence, and the withdrawn evidence shall not be presented in the trial without new reasons.

The defendant and his defender may withdraw the application to exclude illegal evidence. After the application is withdrawn, if there are no new clues or materials, no application for exclusion of relevant evidence may be made again.

Article 26 If the public prosecutor, the defendant and his defender fail to reach an agreement on whether the evidence collection is legal in the pre-trial meeting, and the People's Court has doubts about the legality of the evidence collection, it shall conduct an investigation during the trial; the People's Court shall conduct an investigation on the legality of the evidence collection. If there is no doubt about the legality of the collection and there are no new clues or materials indicating that illegal evidence collection may have occurred, it may be decided not to conduct the investigation.

Article 27 If the defendant and his defender apply to the people's court to notify investigators or other personnel to appear in court, and the people's court believes that the existing evidence materials cannot prove the legality of the evidence collection, and it is really necessary to notify the above-mentioned personnel to appear in court to testify or explain the situation, they may Notify the above persons to appear in court.

Article 28: After the public prosecutor reads out the indictment, the court shall announce the review and handling of the legality of evidence collection before the trial.

Article 29: If the defendant and his defender do not apply to exclude illegal evidence before the trial, but make an application during the court trial, they shall explain the reasons.

Regarding the aforementioned situation, if the court has doubts about the legality of the evidence collection after review, it shall conduct an investigation; if there is no doubt, the application shall be rejected.

After the court rejects the application to exclude illegal evidence, if the defendant and his defender have no new clues or materials and make another application for the same reason, the court will no longer review it.

Article 30 : During a court hearing, if the court decides to investigate the legality of evidence collection, it shall first conduct an investigation in court. However, in order to prevent undue delay in the court hearing, the investigation can also be conducted before the court investigation is completed.

Article 31 To prove the legality of evidence collection, the public prosecutor may produce interrogation transcripts, interrogation registrations, physical examination records, legal documents for taking compulsory or investigative measures, verification materials on the legality of interrogations before the end of the investigation, and other evidence materials. Play the interrogation audio and video in a targeted manner, and request the court to notify investigators or other personnel to appear in court to explain the situation.

The defendant and his defender can present relevant clues or materials and apply to the court to play audio and video recordings of interrogations of a specific period.

When investigators or other personnel appear in court, they shall explain the evidence collection process to the court and accept questions about the relevant circumstances. The court shall stop questioning if the method is inappropriate or the content has nothing to do with the legality of evidence collection.

The prosecutor, defendant and their defenders can cross-examine and debate the legality of evidence collection.

Article 32: If the court has doubts about the evidence provided by the prosecution and defense, it may adjourn the hearing and conduct an investigation and verification of the evidence. When necessary, the prosecutor and defender may be notified to be present.

Article 33: After the court investigates the legality of evidence collection, it shall make a decision in court whether to exclude the relevant evidence. When necessary, the court may be adjourned, and the case may be reviewed by the collegial panel or submitted to the judicial committee for discussion, and a decision may be announced when the court resumes.

Relevant evidence shall not be read out or cross-examined before the court makes a decision on whether to exclude the relevant evidence.

Article 34: If after a court hearing, it is confirmed that evidence has been collected by illegal methods as stipulated in these regulations, the relevant evidence shall be excluded. If the court has doubts about the legality of evidence collection based on relevant clues or materials, but the People's Procuratorate does not provide evidence or the evidence provided cannot prove the legality of evidence collection, and cannot rule out the existence of illegal methods of collecting evidence as stipulated in these regulations, the court shall Relevant evidence should be excluded.

Evidence that has been excluded in accordance with the law shall not be read out, cross-examined, or used as the basis for judgment.

Article 35 After the People's Court has eliminated illegal evidence and the facts of the case are clear and the evidence is reliable and sufficient and the defendant is found guilty in accordance with the law, it shall make a guilty verdict; if the evidence is insufficient and the defendant cannot be found guilty, it shall make a judgment based on insufficient evidence and accuse the defendant. The crime cannot be established; if some facts of the case are clear and the evidence is reliable and sufficient, those facts shall be determined in accordance with the law.

Article 36: The people's court's review and investigation conclusions on the legality of evidence collection shall be stated in the judgment document and the reasons shall be stated.

Article 37 The People's Court shall refer to the above provisions when reviewing and investigating the legality of the collection of evidence such as witness testimony and victim statements.

Article 38 If the People's Procuratorate, the defendant and his legal representative file a protest or appeal, or raise objections to the first-instance People's Court's review or investigation conclusion regarding the legality of evidence collection, the second-instance People's Court shall review it.

The defendant and his defender did not apply for the exclusion of illegal evidence in the first-instance procedure, but if they make an application in the second-instance procedure, they must explain the reasons. The people's court of second instance shall review the case.

If the People's Procuratorate fails to produce evidence to prove the legality of evidence collection in the first-instance procedure, and the first-instance People's Court excludes relevant evidence in accordance with the law, the People's Procuratorate shall not present evidence that has not been produced before in the second-instance procedure. However, in the first-instance procedure, Exceptions are made after the procedure.

Article 39: The second-instance People's Court shall refer to the above-mentioned first-instance procedures for its investigation into the legality of evidence collection.

Article 40: If the first-instance People's Court fails to review the application of the defendant and his defender to exclude illegal evidence and uses relevant evidence as the basis for finalizing the case, which may affect a fair trial, the second-instance People's Court may rule to revoke the original judgment and issue an order. Return to the original People's Court for a new trial.

If the first-instance people's court fails to exclude illegal evidence that should be excluded in accordance with the law, the second-instance people's court may exclude illegal evidence in accordance with the law. After excluding illegal evidence, if the original judgment is correct in determining the facts and applying the law, and if the sentence is appropriate, the appeal or protest shall be dismissed and the original judgment shall be upheld; if the original judgment is correct in determining the facts, but there is an error in the application of the law, or the sentence is inappropriate, the sentence shall be changed; If the facts of the original judgment are unclear or the evidence is insufficient, a ruling may be made to revoke the original judgment and remand the case to the original People's Court for a new trial.

Article 41: The review and investigation of the legality of evidence collection in trial supervision procedures and death penalty review procedures shall refer to the above provisions.

Article 42: These regulations will come into effect on June 27, 2017.