Reporters Dong Fanchao and Zhang Hao
Recently, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the "Opinions on Perfecting and Perfecting the Investigation Supervision and Coordination Mechanism" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") in connection with the implementation of the key tasks of the national political and legal contingent's education, rectification, and establishment of the system of rules and regulations, respectively, clarifying 14 specific tasks for the people's procuratorates and public security organs to improve the supervision and restraint mechanism, the coordination and cooperation mechanism, and the information sharing mechanism, and making provisions on the establishment of the Investigation Supervision and Coordination Office.
The relevant responsible persons of the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security answered reporters' questions on the main spirit and implementation of the "Opinions."
Supervision is systematized with isotropism
Question: What innovations does the "Opinions" have in improving the mutual relationship between people's procuratorates and public security organs in the new era, and establishing and improving relevant systems and mechanisms?
Answer: The "Opinions" systematically standardize and clarify the relationship between procuratorial organs and public security organs in terms of supervision, restraint, coordination and cooperation, and clearly state that people's procuratorates and public security organs should actively adapt to the requirements of the trial-centered reform of the criminal procedure system, coordinate the construction of a criminal accusation system with evidence as the core, and further improve the investigation supervision and coordination mechanism.
The "Opinions" require the establishment of a mechanism linking law enforcement supervision by public security organs in criminal cases with the investigation supervision of people's procuratorates, strengthening the connection and cooperation between internal and external supervision of investigation activities, realizing the homogenization and systematization of supervision, and timely, accurate and effective supervision, jointly promoting the improvement of the standardization level of public security law enforcement and procuratorial supervision capabilities, and ensuring the quality and effectiveness of criminal case handling.
The "Opinions" require strengthening communication and coordination between public security organs and procuratorial organs, coordinating to improve operational capabilities, uniformly updating judicial standards for criminal law enforcement, straightening out the articulation process of key links in criminal proceedings, and achieving mutual cooperation; At the same time, safeguard and standardize procuratorial organs' supervision of investigative activities, requiring that the procuratorial supervision process should be fully communicated with public security organs, and refine the relevant handling procedures for public security organs in situations such as where procuratorial supervision has objections, so as to achieve mutual restraint; Complete information sharing mechanisms, accelerate the promotion of cross-departmental big data collaborative case handling mechanisms, improve mechanisms for ensuring case-handling data and information sharing, and ensure long-term, stable, and effective operation of investigation supervision and coordination mechanisms.
Improve supervision in four aspects
Question: In terms of improving and perfecting the supervision mechanism, what provisions does the "Opinions" make?
A: The "Opinions" put forward four requirements. First, it is necessary to perform supervision duties in accordance with the law. People's procuratorates should lawfully carry out supervision of case filing and investigation activities, promptly discover and correct investigative illegal conduct, and standardize the application of compulsory measures and investigative methods. Second, it is necessary to standardize the supervision work. With informatization, intelligence, and institutionalization, we will resolutely prevent the occurrence of situations such as supervision that should not be supervised, supervision that should be supervised but not supervised, and improper upgrading or demotion of supervision. The third is to effectively safeguard the effectiveness of supervision. Where supervision leads require investigation and verification, the public security organs shall support and cooperate. The fourth is to strengthen the connection between internal and external supervision. People's procuratorates and public security organs shall establish mechanisms linking supervision of criminal case investigation with supervision of law enforcement, strengthen the articulation and cooperation of internal and external supervision of investigative activities, and when necessary, may jointly carry out special inspections and supervision.
Question: What are the specific detailed requirements for standardizing the implementation of the restriction mechanism proposed in the "Opinions"?
Answer: Strengthening and improving mutual restraint is the basic principle that people's procuratorates and public security organs should adhere to in carrying out criminal litigation activities in accordance with the law, and it is also an important institutional mechanism for standardizing the exercise of procuratorial supervision. Where public security organs have objections to the people's procuratorate's decision not to approve arrest and not prosecute, supervision opinions on filing a case, correcting illegal investigations, and other such supervision opinions, they may, in accordance with the provisions of law, require explanations of reasons or request reconsideration, submit a review, or apply for a review, to ensure that the people's procuratorate makes a decision not to arrest and not prosecute in accordance with law and submits a supervision opinion. At the same time, the "Opinions" require that the people's procuratorate shall strengthen communication with the public security organs during the review process, and where a decision is to be made not to arrest or prosecute, and a supervision opinion is submitted, the opinions of the case-handling personnel may be fully heard in the form of a joint meeting and other forms when necessary. Where upon reconsideration, review, or review it is found that the original supervision opinion is truly erroneous, it shall promptly notify the public security organ of the decision to change or promptly revoke the original corrective opinion.
In addition, from the perspective of "strengthening the coordination of case handling", the "Opinions" make it clear that in the process of reviewing arrest and reviewing prosecution, the people's procuratorate shall strengthen communication with the public security organs, and if it is deemed necessary to supplement the investigation, or to make a decision not to approve the arrest or not to prosecute, it shall fully listen to the opinions of the case-handling personnel, strengthen the reasoning for not approving arrest and not prosecuting, and standardize the formulation and issuance of necessary, clear, and feasible supplementary investigation documents. For cases transferred by public security organs, the people's procuratorate shall promptly accept them in accordance with law, and put forward relevant work mechanism requirements in this regard.
Strengthen case-handling coordination
Question: The quality of criminal cases has attracted widespread public attention, what are the specific provisions of the Opinions on strengthening coordination and cooperation between public security organs and people's procuratorates and improving the quality and effectiveness of criminal case handling?
Answer: In order to further strengthen communication and coordination, promote the formation of a unified law enforcement judicial concept and standard, and effectively guarantee and improve the quality and efficiency of criminal case handling, the "Opinions" summarize and absorb good experience and practices in practice, and put forward clear requirements for improving the coordination and cooperation mechanism between public security organs and people's procuratorates, mainly including: First, establish and improve a unified counterpart linkage mechanism for criminal cases. Public security organs should continue to deepen the reform of the unified review and export work mechanism of the legal departments for criminal cases, and the legal departments should conduct a unified review of key law enforcement links such as the submission for approval of arrest, the transfer for review and prosecution, and the legality of evidence collection in criminal cases, and uniformly dock with the procuratorial organs, implement the separation of handling and trial, truly strengthen the examination and control of criminal cases, and effectively ensure the quality of criminal case handling. The second is to establish a mechanism for hearing opinions on major and difficult cases, making it clear that public security organs handling major and difficult cases may consult with the people's procuratorate to send personnel to submit opinions and suggestions on case characterization, evidence collection, application of law, and so forth, through methods such as reviewing evidentiary materials. The third is to establish a joint supervision mechanism. For major or difficult cases, when necessary, the people's procuratorate at the level above and the public security organ may jointly list and supervise the case. The fourth is to strengthen the coordination of case handling.
Question: The "Opinions" put forward that an office for investigation supervision and coordination and cooperation should be set up, so what is the purpose and significance of such a provision? What are the specific functions of the Investigation Supervision and Coordination Office?
A: The Investigation Supervision and Coordination Office is an important platform for implementing the investigation supervision and coordination mechanism. The office established by the people's procuratorate and the public security organs relies on the law enforcement case management center of the public security organs to carry out its work, and the criminal prosecution department of the people's procuratorate and the legal department of the public security organ jointly take the lead, and the people's procuratorate appoints resident procurators and the legal department of the public security organ to designate special personnel to be jointly responsible.
The office focuses on the functions and roles of organization and coordination, supervision and coordination, supervision and implementation, consultation and guidance, etc., specifically including: carrying out investigation supervision, coordination and cooperation and other related work in accordance with law; Organize and coordinate communication and articulation between people's procuratorates and public security organs, case consultations, and so forth; Supervise and coordinate the progress and implementation of the opinions and suggestions of both sides such as supervision and feedback; Provide consultation and guidance on difficult and complex issues in cases or relevant criminal policies. As a platform mechanism jointly established by the people's procuratorate and the public security organs, the office will be able to effectively strengthen the connection and cooperation between the two sides in supervision and case handling, effectively strengthen communication, unify understanding, eliminate differences, and form a joint force in improving the quality of cases, improving the quality and effectiveness of supervision, and enhancing judicial credibility.