Guiding Cases Related to Evidence
The following case was selected by the Supreme People’s Court of the PRC as a guiding case that lower-level courts can reference when applying rules of evidence in specific cases.
Guiding Case No. 147 of the Supreme People’s Court, 张永明、毛伟明、张鹭故意损毁名胜古迹案（Case of intentionally destroying a place of historical interest or scenic beauty by Zhang Yongming, Mao Weiming, and Zhang Lu）
Court may appoint “persons with specialized knowledge” to offer opinions on issues that are not covered by the official forensic examination system. For issues that require special forensic assessment but there is no existing forensic assessment institute, a “person with specialized knowledge” can be assigned or hired to issue a report on the specialized issues of the case, and the report can be used as evidence in the criminal proceedings.
The following cases were selected by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the PRC as guiding cases for lower-level procuratorates to reference when applying rules of evidence in specific cases.
Case No. 2 of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, 忻元龙绑架案 (Xin Yuanlong kidnap case)
Standard of proof in death penalty review cases. When deciding whether to file an appeal in a death penalty cases, the procuratorate must correctly grasp the conditions for applying the death penalty, strictly stick to the standard of proof, and perform the duty of legal supervision of criminal trials in accordance with the law
Case No. 25 of the Supreme People's Procuratorate,于英生申诉案 (Yu Yingsheng’s petition for a retrial)
Prevention of wrongful convictions, standard of proof. (a) To convict a defendant, the prosecution shall prove the case beyond the reasonable doubt, and for facts regarding whether a crime has occurred or whether the defendant committed the crime, the incriminating evidence shall reach an exclusive conclusion that no one other than the defendant committed the crime; (b) When re-investigating reopened cases, the prosecution shall collect both incriminating and exculpatory new evidence as well as comprehensively review all existing evidence in determining whether the original verdict was sufficiently supported by the evidence.
Case No. 26 of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, 陈满申诉案（Chen Man’s petition for a retrial）
Prevention of wrongful convictions, defendant shall be acquitted if conflicts of evidence in a case cannot be ruled out and the conviction is not supported by sufficient evidence. (a) If the truthfulness and legality of the evidence that the original conviction is based upon are not examined in the original trial, the prosecution shall file a petition on behalf of the defendant to vacate the conviction and start a new trial. (b) To reach a conviction, every piece of incriminating evidence shall corroborate with other reliable evidence and the contradictions between evidence shall be eliminated by reasonable explanation.
Case No. 27 of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, 王玉雷不批准逮捕案（case of Wang Yulei regarding the disapproval of an arrest request）
Approval of arrest request, exclusion of illegally obtained evidence. (a) Defendant’s confession extracted by physical coercion shall be excluded; (b) After the exclusion of illegal evidence, if other evidence on file does not prove that the suspect committed a crime, the prosecution shall disapprove the arrest request by the police.
Case No. 42 of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, 齐某强奸、猥亵儿童案（People v. Qi for rape and and child molestation）
Admissibility and probative value of the statement of minor victims, evaluation of evidence in a case where defendant refuses to confess. (a) In cases involving sexual assault of minors, the statement of minor victims can be relied on to convict the defendant, if the minor’s description of the case details conforms to the minor’s normal cognition, memory and expression ability; (b) As long as the offense of molestation was committed in a public place such as a classroom or dormitory with other persons’ present, regardless of whether other people actually detected the crime, it shall be considered as openly committing the crime in a public place and shall be given aggregated punishment.
This case was selected as one of seven influential cases relevant to promoting the spirit of the Constitution and implementing constitutional provisions. It is also the first case where the chief prosecutor attended the SPC Adjudication Committee Meeting. https://www.spp.gov.cn/xwfbh/wsfbh/201912/t20191203_440338.shtml
Case No. 65 of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, 王鹏等人利用未公开信息交易案 （People v. Wang Peng et. al. for trading by using undisclosed information）
Convict by using circumstantial evidence, chain of evidence. Where the employees of financial institutions who have access to undisclosed information engage in obviously abnormal trading which is highly convergent with the transactions related to undisclosed information, even if they refuse to confess, if the other evidence including circumstantial evidence is mutually corroborating and can form a complete proof of guilt, and exclude other possibilities, the criminal fact is deemed to be proven.
Case No. 72 of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, 罪犯王某某暂予监外执行监督案（case of Wang regarding prosecutorial supervision over a decision to grant temporary service of a sentence outside an incarceration facility）
Serve sentence outside the prison, examination of forensic report and other technical evidence. When examining the key forensic assessment report about an inmate’s disease that was the basis for granting temporary service of a sentence outside prison, the procuratorate shall pay special attention to the original material on which the assessment report was based and determine whether the conclusion in the report can be supported by verifiable evidence.
Case No. 67 of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, 张凯闵等52人典型网络诈骗案（case of telecom network fraud committed by 52 defendants including Zhang Kaimin)
Examining evidence collected overseas, digital evidence. (a) The prosecution shall focus on reviewing the legality of evidence collected overseas to see whether the evidence and evidence collection procedures adhere to the CPL, treaties, judicial assistance agreement, etc., and whether the chain of custody is complete; (b) When reviewing digital evidence, the prosecution shall examine the authenticity of the storage medium, the objectiveness, completeness, and truthfulness of the digital evidence, and the truthfulness of the content of the digital evidence and whether it can corroborate other evidence; (c) When investigating telecom network frauds, the prosecution shall review the evidence and build the case surrounding phone cards and bank cards to establish the relation between the victim and the criminal organization.
Case No. 68 of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, 叶源星、张剑秋提供侵入计算机信息系统程序、谭房妹非法获取计算机信息系统数据案 (case of providing a program for intruding into a computer information system by Ye Yuanxing and Zhang Jianqiu and illegally obtaining computer information system data by Tan Fangmei)
Facts to prove in cases involving tools designed to intrude computer information system, how to prove whether the program in question is a “program specifically designed to intrude into computer information systems.” (a) To review a case involving a program specifically designed to intrude into computer information system, the prosecution shall require the police to submit five categories of evidence; (b) To determine whether the program in question is a program specifically designed to intrude into computer information system, the prosecution can look into three aspects.
Case No. 95 of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, 宋某某等人重大责任事故案（Case involving major accident attributable to Song et. al）
Investigation report of work safety accident might be admitted as evidence in criminal case and shall be evaluated in light of other evidence in the case. Safety accident investigation report issued by relevant government department can be used as important reference in handling cases by the prosecution, but the prosecution is not bound by the conclusion in such report and shall collect additional evidence to determine the direct and indirect cause of the accident and accurately distinguish and identify the responsibility of each person involved in the case.
Case No. 100 of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, 陈力等八人侵犯著作权案 (copyright infringement case of Chen Li and seven others)
In cases involving infringement of copyrights, evaluation of objectivity, legality and relevance of digital evidence, and methods to prove the element of “without the copyright holder’s permission.” When handling cases of copyright infringement of audiovisual works on the Internet, attention should be paid to timely extraction, fixation and preservation of relevant electronic data, and comprehensive examination of electronic data should be conducted to ensure the objectivity, legality and relevance of the evidence. For cases involving numerous works, in determining “without the permission of the copyright owner,” the examination should focus on whether the copies involved are illegally published, copied and distributed and whether the defendant can provide relevant supporting materials for obtaining the permission of the copyright owner.
Case No. 102 of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, 金义盈侵犯商业秘密案（trade secret infringement case of Jin Yiying ）
Chain of evidence in contested cases, use of persons with specialized knowledge to review forensic examination opinions. In handling the crime of trade secret infringement, if the defendant pleaded not guilty, the prosecution shall review the evidence proving the existence of trade secret and infringement of such secret, and exclude the possibility that the defendant obtained the trade secret from legitimate sources, in order to prove the alleged crime. The prosecution shall carefully review the forensic examination reports and, if necessary, can hire or assign persons with specialized knowledge to assist in assessing the forensic examination reports. Such persons with specialized knowledge can be called to testify in court against the reports from perspectives of the objectivity and reasonableness of the scientific basis of such reports.