The Paper's reporter Wei Jiaming
In the process of reporting pollution by enterprises, villagers Xiong Zhichao, Xiong Yugen, Yang Fengying and Yi Lianxiang of Le'an County, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, participated in a road blocking protest. Therefore, the four people were found by the local court to be guilty of gathering a crowd to disturb social order, of which, except for Xiong Zhichao, who was exempted from criminal punishment, the other three were sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years.
Dissatisfied with the verdict, the four men continued to appeal. On December 23, the paper (www.thepaper.cn) learned from Xiong Zhichao's lawyer that the Fuzhou Intermediate Court had recently accepted Xiong Zhichao's complaint. At the same time, the Court of First Instance, the Le'an County Court, also made a retrial decision on December 21, and retried a separate chamber against Xiong Yugen, Yang Fengying, and Yi Lianxiang for the crime of gathering a crowd to disturb social order.
According to the retrial decision, the Le'an court held after review that the president of the court found that the original trial used the evidentiary materials collected by the public security organs in the course of administrative law enforcement and investigation and handling of the case before the three defendants were decided to file a criminal case as conclusive evidence in the criminal case, and there was a procedural violation. The court held that verbal evidence collected by the public security organs during the administrative law enforcement process before September 10, 2015 (Note: More than a dozen villagers, including Xiong Zhichao, were taken away by the police on that day) could not be used as evidence in criminal cases, and should be re-collected after the criminal case was filed.
After being arrested, he was released on bail and was not sued for 5 years
The Paper previously reported that since 2014, villagers in Ding'an Village, Gongxi Town, Le'an County, have found that a waste tire treatment plant in Youjiashan burned unknown waste to produce smoke, leaving a large amount of unknown waste. Villagers reported to the Gongxi town government, which ordered the company to sign a suspension agreement.
In June 2015, in addition to the resurgence of the previously investigated factory in Youjiashan, villagers found two black factories burning used tires and tens of thousands of tons of unknown industrial waste dumps in the Zoujiashan uranium mining area. After reporting to the Gongxi Town Government and the Le'an County Environmental Protection Bureau and seeking help without success, the villagers set up obstacles on the road leading to Zoujiashan to prevent the unidentified waste from continuing to be transported to Zoujiashan and Youjiashan.
This became the origin of Xiong Zhichao and others' convictions. The Le'an County Procuratorate later alleged that between mid-July and September 10, 2015, some villagers in Ding'an Village, Gongxi Township, Le'an County, repeatedly blocked the intersection of the road from the Gongxi Town Manshui Bridge to the Zoujiashan Uranium Miners' Land on the grounds that unknown waste from the Zoujiashan Waste Tire Treatment Plant in Gongxi Town had polluted the environment, preventing vehicles from passing, making the road impossible to pass normally, and the Gongxi Town government and local village committee staff repeatedly went to the scene to dispose of it without success. During this period, Xiong Zhichao, as the general representative of the villagers blocking the road, encouraged villagers Xiong Yugen, Yang Fengying, Yi Lianxiang and others to participate in the blockage of the road from the town's flood water bridge to the Zoujiashan uranium miner's land, and organized the villagers to post announcements and pull banners in the form of an attempt to put pressure on the government and workers.
When questioned after arriving at the case, Xiong Zhichao said that posting announcements and writing banners was not pressure, but a request, "to help the villagers of Ding'an Village express their willingness to ask the government." On September 10, 2015, more than a dozen villagers, including Xiong Zhichao, were taken away by the police. The next day, Xiong Zhichao was criminally detained and arrested on October 16 of the same year. On November 4 of the same year, Xiong Zhichao was released on guarantee pending further investigation by the Le'an County Public Security Bureau.
On September 28, 2016, the Le'an County Public Security Bureau transferred Xiong Zhichao and others to the Le'an County Procuratorate for review and prosecution on suspicion of gathering crowds to disrupt traffic order, and the case was later returned for supplementary investigation due to "unclear facts and insufficient evidence". After the one-year bail period expired, Xiong Zhichao was again released on bail by the Le'an County Procuratorate on October 20, 2016. After the expiration of the one-year period of the second release on guarantee pending further investigation, Xiong Zhichao has not yet been prosecuted.
After being temporarily freed, Xiong Zhichao left Le'an County and went to guangxi to work until November 24, 2020, when he was captured in Qinzhou, Guangxi Province, and was escorted back by the Le'an County Public Security Bureau on November 27 of that year. On December 31, 2020, Xiong Zhichao was arrested on suspicion of gathering a crowd to disturb social order.
He was convicted of gathering a crowd to disturb social order, and three were given a suspended sentence and one was exempted from punishment
Before Xiong Zhichao's arrest was approved, on November 30, 2020, the Le'an court had already rendered a first-instance judgment against Xiong Yugen, Yang Fengying, and Yi Lianxiang on the same charges, all of whom were sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years. The Paper noted that the confessions of the three men later became evidence in Xiong Zhichao's case.
On July 29, 2021, the Le'an County Court pronounced a verdict in the first instance trial of Xiong Zhichao's case, finding him guilty of gathering a crowd to disturb social order, but considering the cause of the case and the minor circumstances of the crime, he was exempted from criminal punishment.
The first-instance judgment shows that the Le'an County Court did not adopt the defense and defense opinions directly related to the government's improper handling of the escalation of the road blockage incident proposed by Xiong Zhichao and his defender, the failure to publish the monitoring results in a timely manner, and the failure to do a good job of explaining and explaining.
The Le'an County Court held that the local government and environmental protection departments have repeatedly gone to the scene to explain, reply and dispose of environmental pollution issues, and the defendant should rationally express his demands, and cannot take illegal acts of continuously gathering crowds to block roads and disrupt the normal production and social order of enterprises.
However, with regard to the prosecution's accusation that Xiong Zhichao was the leading element of the crime of gathering a crowd to disturb social order, the Le'an County Court held that the partial accusation was improper and the evidence was insufficient, and should be corrected, "should be identified as an active participant in the crime of gathering a crowd to disturb social order." ”
The four people complained, and the court initiated a retrial after review and found that the procedure was illegal
After the first-instance judgment was issued, Xiong Zhichao appealed, and the Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court issued a second-instance ruling on November 9, upholding the original judgment. After that, Xiong Zhichao complained with Xiong Yugen, Yang Fengying and Yi Lianxiang.
On December 23, The Paper learned from Xiong Zhichao's lawyer that the Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court had recently accepted his complaint. At the same time, on December 21, the Le'an Court also made a retrial decision to retry Xiong Yugen, Yang Fengying and Yi Lianxiang in a separate chamber on the suspicion of gathering a crowd to disturb social order.
Le'an County Court's December 21 retrial decision letter courtesy of the interviewee
According to the retrial decision, the Le'an court held after review that the president of the court found that the original trial used the evidentiary materials collected by the public security organs in the course of administrative law enforcement and investigation and handling of the case before the three defendants were decided to file a criminal case as conclusive evidence in the criminal case, and there was a procedural violation.
According to article 75 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, where physical evidence, documentary evidence, audio-visual materials, electronic data and other evidentiary materials collected by administrative organs in the course of administrative law enforcement and the investigation and handling of cases are verified by the court to be true, and the collection procedures comply with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations, they may be used as the basis for a verdict.
The Le An court held that in this case, the verbal evidence collected by the public security organs during the administrative law enforcement process before September 10, 2015 could not be used as evidence in criminal cases, and should be re-collected after the criminal case was filed in accordance with law. Therefore, after study and decision by the adjudication committee, the procedures for collecting the testimony of multiple witnesses in the case of Xiong Yugen, Yang Fengying, and Yi Lianxiang suspected of gathering a crowd to disturb social order were illegal, and the original trial's acceptance of witness testimony was procedurally illegal, so it was decided to retry in accordance with law.
Editor-in-Charge: Cui Xuan
Proofreader: Luan Meng