On May 11, a criminal case was tried in open court at the Tianjun County People's Court in Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (hereinafter referred to as Haixi Prefecture) in Qinghai Province. During the trial, the presiding judge suddenly announced an adjournment, and after the members of the collegial panel withdrew from the courtroom, the defender accidentally discovered evidence that the judge of the higher court "guided" the presiding judge to hold the trial through WeChat chat, and called the police on the spot on the grounds that the lawful trial had been illegally interfered with.
The Intermediate People's Court of Haixi Prefecture in Qinghai issued a circular
At 19:32 on May 13, the WeChat public account of the "Qinghai Haixi Prefecture Intermediate People's Court" issued a report on the "Online Public Opinion Related to the Case of Suo Mou and Twelve Other Suspected Picking Quarrels and Provoking Troubles":
Recently, some netizens posted and reprinted on the Internet "The court of second instance "remotely controlled" the judge of the first instance to "interrupt" the lawyer: "Be hard! The Haixi Prefecture Intermediate People's Court attaches great importance to the article and initiates the verification work as soon as possible, and hereby notifies the verification situation as follows:
1. During the period when the court is adjourned, the defender does not abide by court discipline, enters the trial area without authorization, uses a mobile phone to take a picture of the collegial panel members' computer screens to log in to their personal WeChat interface, does not listen to the court staff's stops, and pushes down the court staff, seriously disrupting the normal work order of the people's court.
2. After the defender took the photos, causing the defendant's family to post the photos and text on their personal Sina Weibo, and then forwarding them through news media such as "Phoenix Information" and "New Yellow River", causing public opinion and interfering with the normal conduct of litigation activities.
3. This case is one of the "four types of cases" for key supervision, and the Haixi Prefecture Intermediate People's Court has assigned personnel to guide the trial work of the lower people's courts in accordance with provisions, but there are situations where the supervision measures are not standardized in the specific supervision and management work.
As a judicial organ, our court will continue to closely follow the theme of "fairness and efficiency", always regard consciously accepting supervision as an important guarantee for judicial fairness, and at the same time draw inferences from one case to another and standardize the work of trial supervision and management. It is hoped that all sectors of society will not spread or believe rumors, abide by the order of the Internet, continue to support the work of the courts, and jointly maintain judicial fairness and a fair and just legal environment.
The Haixi Prefecture Intermediate People's Court issued a notice (screenshot of the official website of the Haixi Prefecture Intermediate People's Court)
Previously reported: The court of second instance "remotely controlled" the judge of the first instance to interrupt the lawyer
On May 11, some netizens said that the Tianjun County People's Court in Qinghai Province heard a case in which multiple people were accused of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. Before the afternoon adjournment, Haas Chaolu of the Criminal Division of the Haixi Intermediate People's Court and President Fan of the Tianjun County People's Court instructed the presiding judge in a WeChat group and asked the presiding judge to "be tougher" when interrupting the lawyers' speeches.
The netizen said that after the incident, the lawyers at the scene reported to the discipline inspection commissions and procuratorates at all levels, saying that the court leaders were suspected of abusing their power and illegally interfering in the trial of the case, violating the legal provisions of the second instance final trial. Another lawyer called 110 on the spot and called the police to ask for fixed evidence. Opposite the courthouse was the Public Security Bureau, and soon more than a dozen policemen came to the courtroom, investigated and collected evidence on the spot, and took pictures of the computer used by the presiding judge and sealed it away.
A defender unexpectedly discovered that a judge of a higher court "guided" the presiding judge to speak in a WeChat group
The reporter noticed that in the trial scene mentioned by the netizen, there was an enlarged WeChat chat window on the computer screen, which had multiple chat groups such as "Tianjun Court WeChat Group". In a seven-person chat group that included "President Fan", President Fan said "there is no need to discuss with him", and "President Haas" said "interrupt" and "be tough, don't speak casually". According to the official website of the Tianjun County People's Court, the name of the president of the court is Fan Xuhua. On January 4 this year, the Haixi Prefecture Intermediate People's Court published an article in which the phrase "Haschaolu, the president of the criminal trial court."
The reporter learned that on the same day, the Tianjun County People's Court was trying a case in which 12 people were accused of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. In November 2021, 12 people were convicted of picking quarrels and provoking trouble, ranging from four years and six months to nine months, by the Tianjun County People's Court. In 2023, the judgment of the Tianjun County People's Court was revoked by the higher court, and the case was remanded to the Tianjun County People's Court for retrial. May 11, 2024 is the second day of the retrial of the case, which begins at 3 p.m. and adjourns around 4:20 p.m.
It is understood that at that time, a number of defense lawyers asked the bailiff to protect the scene, and some lawyers called the police. At around 4:40 p.m. on the same day, the Tianjun County Public Security Bureau dispatched the police, and the police took pictures, sealed and extracted the computer host on the trial bench. The lawyer who called the police went to the Public Security Bureau to make a report of the case.
The police arrived at the scene and sealed the evidence at the scene
Supervision of lower courts by higher courts does not include "real-time remote guidance of court hearings"
The mainland implements a two-instance final adjudication system. During the first instance, if the court of second instance intervenes or even intervenes in the trial of the case, can the legal rights of the parties to appeal be guaranteed? The reporter learned that according to the Criminal Procedure Law and other laws and regulations of the mainland, the court exercises its judicial power independently in accordance with the law, and the way in which the higher court supervises the lower court does not include "real-time remote control guidance of the trial". According to article 23 of the Supreme People's Court's "Several Opinions on Improving the Judicial Responsibility System of the People's Courts", the trial management and supervision activities of court presidents, vice presidents, and division presidents shall be strictly controlled within the scope of their duties and authority, and shall be openly conducted on the work platform. Presidents, vice-presidents, and division presidents, except for participating in adjudication committees and professional judges' meetings, must not express tendentious opinions in cases in which they did not participate in trial.
In accordance with Article 20 of the Organic Law of the People's Procuratorate of the Mainland, the People's Procuratorate exercises legal supervision over litigation activities. The specific matters to be supervised include: whether the court trial violates legal procedures, whether the procedural rights of the parties and other litigation participants are violated, and whether the adjudicators engage in favoritism and other illegal acts in the trial activities.
Tianjun County People's Court
In this regard, the reporter called Li Jihui, deputy chief procurator of the Tianjun County People's Procuratorate, but the phone was not answered. At the time of the incident that day, the prosecutors of the Tianjun County People's Procuratorate, Zha Bai and Li Jihui, were both present, and Zha Bai did not answer the phone.
It is reported that according to the trial arrangement, the case was originally to continue on May 13. However, at 1 a.m. on May 13, the Tianjun County People's Court notified the case to be "adjourned".
Source: "First Scene" Synthesis