Prosecutor Chen Wei: The watchman of fairness and justice

At the Fuzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate, the name of Chen Wei, deputy director of the Third Procuratorate, is often closely associated with major and important cases and "first cases."

In the past twenty years since the procuratorate, Chen Wei has always fought in the front line of public prosecution, and her hair has turned white over the years, but it has also made the belief that "the procuratorate is public and the law enforcement is for the people" that has been deeply planted in his heart since the beginning of the procuratorate have lasted for a long time. After a variety of cases, large and small, Chen Wei has also become a rational, calm and more professional legal person, watching for fairness and justice.

"Our performance of duties is not untargeted, but full of soul and direction"

Chen Wei always firmly believes that as a procurator, performing his duties is not aimless, but full of soul and direction. "In addition to thinking about how to make the defendant accept legal sanctions, we must also think about how to awaken the conscience of the defendant through their own work, urge them to admit guilt and obey the law, show the sanctity and inviolability of the law to the public, and eliminate the negative impact of crime." Chen Wei was impressed by a case she had undertaken ten years earlier.

Ten years ago, after killing people over emotional disputes, a criminal broke into a hospital and abducted multiple pregnant women and newborns to threaten the police. The case caused great indignation and discussion in society.

During the review, Chen Wei, who was in charge of the procurator, found that although the defendant admitted guilt, he did not repent, repeatedly exaggerated the emotional harm and anger he had suffered, and was not fully aware of the serious legal consequences and bad social impact caused by his actions. Under the premise of severely punishing and cracking down on crimes, how can we make defendants repent in court and show the society the inviolability of the law, so as to achieve the good effect of combining punishment of crimes and warning education? This conundrum lay before him.

During many interrogations, Chen Wei learned in detail about the defendant's family life background and dug deep into his motives for committing the crime. "One is that when he mentions the old mother in the family, his eyes are red; One is the motive of his crime, which is actually because of love and hate. During the conversation, Chen Wei noticed two details, which made him feel that the defendant still had a trace of conscience.

Based on this, Chen Wei formulated a corresponding work plan, guided the investigation organs to collect additional evidence, confirmed that the defendant's idea of so-called emotional disputes was purely subjective, and at the same time pushed his heart and mind with the defendant, prompting him to think in a different position: if the victim was him, how sad his mother would be. During the trial, Chen Wei played video footage in court through multimedia demonstration to visually show the crime scene, so that the defendant realized how bad his crime was, and his conscience was further impacted. At the same time, in-depth analysis of human nature, social and other issues caused by the case, and public prosecution opinions are issued. In the end, the defendant repented in court, knelt down to apologize to the victim's family, and shed tears of repentance.

"This kind of confession is a kind of baptism for the defendant, a kind of consolation for the victim's family, and a manifestation of judicial authority and legal dignity for the public." Chen Wei said.

"Only by seeking the ultimate can we handle an iron case that can stand the test of history"

In 2015, Chen Wei became the main prosecutor in a case of job-related crimes committed by middle management cadres. The case is complex and highly anticipated, and the pressure is self-evident. At that time, Chen Wei and his colleagues had no experience to learn from, how to make it an iron case that could withstand the test of law and history? This difficult problem was placed in front of Chen Wei.

In the face of challenges, Chen Wei and her colleagues have adopted the most simple but effective method: diligence can make up for clumsiness. From the first day of accepting the case, Chen Wei and her colleagues deliberated and studied it repeatedly day and night, and conducted an almost paranoid comprehensive review of the case. "At that time, I could even casually recite any piece of evidence and proof of the case." Chen Wei recalled. Every piece of evidence on which the case is prosecuted has been repeatedly investigated and verified, each identified fact has been repeatedly examined and deliberated, and each applicable statute has been repeatedly positively and negatively demonstrated. "We all know the focus of the dispute in the case and are confident."

Therefore, when the defendant suddenly retracted his confession after the case was prosecuted, Chen Wei and his colleagues were surprised, but they did not panic, they were not afraid to question, and faced the dispute head-on, especially focusing on the trial charges on displaying evidence and convincing people with evidence, making it difficult for the defendant to refute in the face of credible and sufficient evidence, and allowing observers to draw correct judgments from clear and comprehensive evidence.

To this end, Chen Wei has formulated a set of targeted and effective trial plans, many of which are the first time in the trial of serious and extraordinarily serious job-related crimes. For example, for the first time, two expert witnesses and one expert evaluator were invited to testify at the same time; In response to disputes over the fact that some bribes were accepted, audio and video recordings of the bribe-givers were played in court when presenting evidence, and procurators went to the scene to investigate and verify the photographs taken. These details greatly reinforced the charges, achieved outstanding trial results, and finally fought this hard battle.

Through this case, Chen Wei and his colleagues also explored a set of experiences and practices for the defendant to retract his confession in the trial of the trial, provided a case handling template that can be copied and referenced for handling serious and difficult cases in various places, and demonstrated the good image of Fuzhou procurators who "bravely shoulder heavy burdens and dare to fight hard battles".

"As a prosecutor, you must not have the idea of superiority"

In Chen Wei's view, the successful handling of a case is inseparable from the equal exchange and good communication between procurators, defenders and adjudicators. "As a prosecutor, you must not have the idea of superiority." Chen Wei said.

In 2017, the Supreme People's Procuratorate referred a case of a central management cadre to the Fuzhou Municipal Procuratorate for review and prosecution, and Chen Wei was the undertaker of the case. The case was defended by two well-known criminal lawyers in our province. In the course of handling cases, Chen Wei strictly followed the provisions on safeguarding lawyers' practice rights, lawfully guaranteed defenders' procedural rights such as reading the case file, and helped defenders coordinate timely meetings with defendants, so as to establish an equal and mutual trust relationship with defense lawyers.

On this basis, Chen Wei also actively listens to the defender's opinions, and does not evade or suppress the focus of the dispute raised by the defender on whether it is a specific related person accepting bribes, and actively listens to and communicates on an equal footing; Support the defender's leniency opinion that is consistent with the facts of the case. "In this way, we not only fully understand the defender's defense ideas and basis, but also take this opportunity to grasp the ideological dynamics of the defendant and the defender in a timely manner." Chen Wei told reporters.

After the case was prosecuted, Chen Wei also suggested that the court initiate the pre-trial conference procedure, which not only realized equal and comprehensive communication with the defender and the collegial panel, but also strengthened the leading filtering role and legal supervision function of pre-trial throughout the case handling.

During the pretrial conference, Chen Wei comprehensively disclosed the evidence, reached an agreement with the defender on procedural issues such as jurisdiction, recusal, legality of evidence, and methods of presenting and cross-examining evidence, and at the same time guided the collegial panel to clarify the focus of litigation and defense, laying a foundation for improving the quality and efficiency of the trial.

During the trial, Chen Wei and her colleagues presented and cross-examined each fact according to the constituent elements of the crime, classifying, grouping, and grading the evidence; In particular, the focus issues summarized at the pre-trial conference are focused on presenting evidence, clearly showing a complete chain of evidence and accusation system, and after the defender fully expresses the defense opinion, the confrontation is a positive response. The allegations were further reinforced through focused cross-examination of evidence and equal confrontation between the prosecution and the defence in court.

Although the trial process was full of words, it achieved very good trial results. The defendant stated in court that he would not appeal, and after the verdict was pronounced, he entrusted his defender to thank the procuratorate for its work.

(Reporter Lin Shan)