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Chapter II Procedure of First Instance

Section 1 Cases of Public Prosecution

Article 150 After a People's Court has examined a case in which public prosecution was initiated, it shall decide to open the court session and try the case, if the bill of prosecution contains clear facts of the crime accused and, in addition, there are a list of evidence and a list of witnesses as well as duplicates or photos of major evidence attached to it.

Article 151 After a People's Court has decided to open a court session, it shall proceed with the following work:

(1) to determine the members of the collegial panel;

(2) to deliver to the defendant a copy of the bill of prosecution of the People's Procuratorate no later than ten days before the opening of the court session. If the defendant has not appointed a defender, he shall be informed that he may appoint a defender or, when necessary, designate a lawyer that is obligated to provide legal aid to serve as a defender for him;

(3) to notify the People's Procuratorate of the time and place of the court session three days before the opening of the session;

(4) to summon the parties and notify the defenders, agents ad litem, witnesses, expert witnesses and interpreters, and deliver the summons and notices no later than three days before the opening of the court session; and

(5) to announce, three days before the opening of the session, the subject matter of the case to be heard in public, the name of the defendant and the time and place of the court session.

The circumstances of the above-mentioned proceedings shall be entered in the written record, which shall be signed by the judges and the court clerk.

Article 152 Cases of first instance in a People's Court shall be heard in public. However, cases involving State secrets or private affairs of individuals shall not be heard in public.

No cases involving crimes committed by minors who have reached the age of 14 but not the age of 16 shall be heard in public. Generally, cases involving crimes committed by minors who have reached the age of 16 but not the age of 18 shall also not be heard in public.

The reason for not hearing a case in public shall be announced in court.

Article 153 When a case of public prosecution is being tried in a People's Court, the People's Procuratorate shall send its procurators to the court to support the public prosecution. However, when a case is to be tried through summary procedure, the People's Procuratorate may send no procurators to the court, as provided by the provisions of Article 175 of this Law.

Article 154 When a court session opens, the presiding judge shall ascertain if all the parties have appeared in court and announce the subject matter of the case. He shall announce the roll, naming the members of the collegial panel, the court clerk, the public prosecutor, the defender, agent ad litem, the expert witnesses and the interpreter; he shall inform the parties of their right to apply for withdrawal of any member of the collegial panel, the court clerk, the public prosecutor, any expert witnesses or the interpreter; and he shall inform the defendant of his right to defence.

Article 155 After the public prosecutor has read out the bill of prosecution in court, the defendant and the victim may present statements regarding the crime accused in the bill of prosecution, and the public prosecutor may interrogate the defendant.

The victim, the plaintiff and defender in an incidental civil action and the agents ad litem may, with the permission of the presiding judge, put questions to the defendant.

The judges may interrogate the defendant.

Article 156 Before a witness gives testimony, the judges shall instruct him to give testimony truthfully and explain to him the legal responsibility that shall be incurred for intentionally giving false testimony or concealing criminal evidence. The public prosecutor, the parties, the defenders and agents ad litem, with the permission of the presiding judge, may question the witnesses and expert witnesses. If the presiding judge considers any questioning irrelevant to the case, he shall put a stop to it.

The judges may question the witnesses and expert witnesses.

Article 157 The public prosecutor and the defenders shall show the material evidence to the court for the parties to identify; the records of testimony of witnesses who are not present in court, the conclusions of expert witnesses who are not present in court, the records of inquests and other documents serving as evidence shall be read out in court. The judges shall heed the opinions of the public prosecutor, the parties, the defenders and the agents ad litem.

Article 158 During a court hearing, if the collegial panel has doubts about the evidence, it may announce an adjournment, in order to carry out investigation to verify the evidence.

When carrying out investigation to verify evidence, the People's Court may conduct inquest, examination, seizure, expert evaluation, as well as inquiry and freeze.

Article 159 During a court hearing, the parties, the defenders and agents ad litem shall have the right to request new witnesses to be summoned, new material evidence to be obtained, a new expert evaluation to be made, and another inquest to be held.

The court shall make a decision whether to grant the above-mentioned requests.

Article 160 With the permission of the presiding judge, the public prosecutor, the parties, the defenders and the agents ad litem may state their views on the evidence and the case, and they may debate with each other. After the presiding judge has declared conclusion of the debate, the defendant shall have the right to present a final statement.

Article 161 If any participant in the proceedings of a trial or by-stander violates the order of the courtroom, the presiding judge shall warn him to desist. If any person fails to obey, he may forcibly be taken out of the courtroom. If the violation is serious, the person shall be fined not more than 1,000 yuan or detained not more than 15 days. The fine or detention shall be subject to approval of the president of the court. If the person under punishment is not satisfied with the decision on the fine or detention, he may apply to the People's Court at the next higher level for reconsideration. However, the execution of the fine or detention shall not be suspended during the period of reconsideration.

Whoever assembles a crowd to make an uproar or charges into the courtroom, or humiliates, slanders, intimidates or beats up judicial officers or participants in the proceedings, thereby seriously disturbing the order of the courtroom, which constitutes a crime, shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law.

Article 162 After a defendant makes his final statement, the presiding judge shall announce an adjournment and the collegial panel shall conduct its deliberations and, on the basis of the established facts and evidence and in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws, render one of the following judgments:

(1) if the facts of a case are clear, the evidence is reliable and sufficient, and the defendant is found guilty in accordance with law, he shall be pronounced guilty accordingly;

(2) if the defendant is found innocent in accordance with law, he shall be pronounced innocent accordingly;

(3) if the evidence is insufficient and thus the defendant cannot be found guilty, he shall be pronounced innocent accordingly on account of the fact that the evidence is insufficient and the accusation unfounded.

Article 163 In all cases, judgments shall be pronounced publicly.

If the judgment on a case is pronounced in court, a written form of the judgment shall be delivered within five days to the parties and the People's Procuratorate that initiated the public prosecution. In cases where the judgment is pronounced later on a fixed date, a written form of the judgment shall be delivered immediately after the pronouncement to the parties and the People's Procuratorate that initiated the public prosecution.

Article 164 The written judgment shall be signed by the members of the collegial panel and by the court clerk, and the time limit for appeal and the name of the appellate court shall be clearly indicated therein.

Article 165 A hearing may be postponed if during a trial one of the following situations affecting the conduct of the trial occurs:

(1) if it is necessary to summon new witnesses, obtain new material evidence, make a new expert evaluation or hold another inquest;

(2) if the procurators find that a case for which public prosecution has been initiated requires supplementary investigation, and they make a proposal to that effect; or

(3) if the trial cannot proceed because a party applies for the withdrawal of a judicial officer.

Article 166 If the hearings of a case is postponed in accordance with the provisions of sub-paragraph (2) in Article 165 of this Law, the People's Procuratorate shall complete the supplementary investigation within one month.

Article 167 The court clerk shall make a written record of the entire court proceedings, which shall be examined by the presiding judge and then signed by him and the court clerk.

That portion of the courtroom record comprising the testimony of witnesses shall be read out in court or given to the witnesses to read. After the witnesses acknowledge that the record is free of error, they shall sign or affix their seals to it.

The courtroom record shall be given to the parties to read or shall be read out to them. If a party considers that there are omissions or errors in the record, he may request additions or corrections to be made. After the parties acknowledge that the record is free of error, they shall sign or affix their seals to it.

Article 168 A People's Court shall pronounce judgment on a case of public prosecution within one month or, one and a half months at the latest, after accepting it. Under one of the situations provided in Article 126 of this Law, the period may be extended by one more month upon approval or decision by the Higher People's Court of a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government.

If jurisdiction of a People's Court over a case is altered, the time limit for handling the case shall be calculated from the date on which another People's Court receives the case after the alteration.

As to a case for which a People's Procuratorate has to conduct supplementary investigation, the People's Court shall start to calculate anew the time lime for handling the case after the supplementary investigation has been completed and the case has been transferred to it.

Article 169 If a People's Procuratorate discovers that in handling a case a People's Court has violated the litigation procedure prescribed by law, it shall have the power to suggest to the People's Court that it should set it right.

Section 2 Cases of Private Prosecution

Article 170 Cases of private prosecution include the following:

(1) cases to be handled only upon complaint;

(2) cases for which the victims have evidence to prove that those are minor criminal cases; and

(3) cases for which the victims have evidence to prove that the defendants should be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law because their acts have infringed upon the victims' personal or property rights, whereas, the public security organs or the People's Procuratorates do not investigate the criminal responsibility of the accused.

Article 171 After examining a case of private prosecution, the People's Court shall handle it in one of the following manners in light of the different situations:

(1) If the facts of the crime are clear and the evidence is sufficient, the case shall be tried at a court session; or

(2) In a case of private prosecution for which criminal evidence is lacking, if the private prosecutor cannot present supplementary evidence, the court shall persuade him to withdraw his prosecution or order its rejection.

If a private prosecutor, having been served twice with a summons according to law, refuses to appear in court without justifiable reasons, or if he withdraws from a court session without permission of the court, the case may be considered withdrawn by him.

If during the trial of a case the judges have doubts about the evidence and consider it necessary to conduct investigation to verify the evidence, the provisions of Article 158 of this Law shall apply.

Article 172 A People's Court may conduct mediation in a case of private prosecution; the private prosecutor may arrange a settlement with the defendant or withdraw his prosecution before a judgment is pronounced. Mediation shall not be conducted for cases stipulated in sub-paragraph (3) of Article 170 of this Law.

Article 173 In the process of the proceedings, the defendant in a case of private prosecution may raise a counterclaim against the private prosecutor. The provisions governing private prosecutions shall apply to counterclaims.

Section 3 Summary Procedure

Article 174 The People's Court may apply summary procedure to the following cases, which shall be tried by a single judge alone:

(1) cases of public prosecution where the defendants may be lawfully sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance or punished with fines exclusively, where the facts are clear and the evidence is sufficient, and for which the People's Procuratorate suggests or agrees to the application of summary procedure;

(2) cases to be handled only upon complaint; and

(3) cases prosecuted by the victims, for which there is evidence to prove that they are minor criminal cases.

Article 175 For a case of public prosecution that is tried through summary procedure, the People's Procuratorate may send no procurators to the court. The defendant may present a statement and defend himself regarding the crimes accused in the bill of prosecution. In cases where the People's Procuratorate sends procurators to the court, the defendant and his defenders may, with permission of the judges, debate with the public prosecutor.

Article 176 In a case of private prosecution that is tried through summary procedure, after the bill of prosecution is read out, the defendant and his defenders may, with the permission of the judges, debate with the private prosecutor and his agents ad litem.

Article 177 Trial of cases through summary procedure shall not be subject to the provisions of Section 1 of this Chapter governing the procedures of interrogating the defendant, questioning the witnesses and expert witnesses, showing the evidence, and debating in court. However, before the judgment is pronounced, the final statement of the defendant shall be heard.

Article 178 For a case to be tried through summary procedure, the People's Court shall conclude it within 20 days after accepting it.

Article 179 If in the course of trying a case the People's Court discovers that the summary procedure is not appropriate for the case, it shall try it anew in accordance with the provisions in Section 1 or Section 2 of this Chapter.

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