Top 10 Criminal Cases of People's Court in 2016

Top 10 Criminal Cases of People's Court in 2016

2017-01-13 Criminal Law Library

Source: People's Court Newspaper | Author: Ding Jia
The top ten criminal cases of the people's court in 2016 selected by the editorial department of the people's court newspaper were launched today. The ten criminal cases selected this time are all reported by the People's Court News in 2016 with significant social influence, high public attention, complicated cases, difficult trials, or trial results with major breakthroughs or reference criminal cases.

The ten major cases are: Nie Shubin's intentional homicide, rape of women retrial, Ling planned to accept bribes, illegally obtain state secrets, abuse of power, Bai Enpei's bribery, huge amount of property from unknown sources, Kuaibo's case of spreading obscene materials for profit, Zhou Shifeng Hu Shigen, Zhai Yanmin, Gou Hongguo's subversion of state power, Tianjin Port's "8 · 12" series of fire and explosion accidents, Jia Jinglong's intentional homicide, fuxi company food case, single county college entrance examination voluntary tampering case, the country's largest network of wildlife trafficking case.

The selection of these top ten criminal cases conducted a comprehensive and serious review of the criminal cases tried by courts at all levels across the country in 2016, showing that the people's courts have punished crimes and protected human rights through the trial of criminal cases in accordance with the law in the past year. Contributions made to advancing the construction of the rule of law in China and maintaining social fairness and justice.
At the invitation of this newspaper, Professor Lu Jianping, Dean of the Law School of Beijing Normal University, Professor Chen Weidong of the Law School of Renmin University of China, and Associate Professor Che Hao of the Law School of Peking University made wonderful comments on these ten cases and further explained the typical significance of these ten cases. And significant impact. (trainee reporter Ding Jia)

1. Nie Shubin's Intentional Murder and Rape of Women
On April 27, 1995, Nie Shubin was executed for intentional homicide and rape of women. In December 2014, the Supreme People's Court ordered the Shandong Provincial Higher People's Court to review the case and decided to arraignment on June 6, 2016. On December 2, 2016, the Second Circuit Court of the Supreme People's Court publicly pronounced on the retrial case of the original defendant Nie Shubin's intentional homicide and rape of women, annulled the original judgment and acquitted Nie Shubin.
Comments by Lu Jianping:
No matter from which point of view, the Nie case should become the most interesting case in 2016. First of all, it is because of its long time span, from the execution of the death penalty to the commutation of innocence, which is more than 21 years! The second is the bizarre process, because in 2005 Wang Shujin's confession of his guilt made the case of Kang's murder possible "one life and two murderers", thus making a major turnaround in Nie's appeal; the third is the twists and turns of the process. After the unremitting efforts of Nie Shubin's family and widespread attention from all walks of life, the case was designated by the Supreme Court for review in 2014, the Shandong High Court formed a collegial panel in accordance with the law to conduct a comprehensive review of the case, and held an unprecedented hearing specifically for the case, and finally recommended that the Supreme Law initiate a trial supervision procedure for a new trial. The Supreme Court made a retrial decision after reviewing the opinions of the Shandong High Court, arraigned the case, and designated the Supreme Court to conduct a second inspection trial. Although the circuit court did not hold a public hearing in the trial of this case, it implemented the principle of comprehensive trial and finally revised the sentence; finally and most importantly, this case is a model of no suspected crime. The Nie case has a long time and a lot of evidence has been lost. It is extremely difficult to find out the facts and evidence. There are many different opinions and opinions in the process of case review. Judging from the published existing evidence, the evidence for the crime of Nie Shubin has neither met the standard of reliable and sufficient proof, nor has it met the conviction requirements of clear basic facts and conclusive basic evidence. In this case, the Supreme Law insists on "suspected crime". The acquittal is changed from innocence, which undoubtedly provides guidelines and benchmarks for future judicial activities. The institutional innovations such as off-site review, review hearings, and comprehensive trials triggered by the rehabilitation of the Nie case will have a profound impact.
2. Cases of bribery, illegal acquisition of state secrets and abuse of power
On July 4, 2016, the Tianjin No. 1 Intermediate People's Court sentenced the former vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the former minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee to life imprisonment, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property.
Comments by Chen Weidong:
The order plan from the official to the former vice chairman of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the former director of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is another high-level official who has fallen after Zhou Yongkang, showing that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is fighting corruption in the party. Firm determination. After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee promoted the comprehensive and strict governance of the party, promptly revised the ''Regulations on Inspection Work'' and ''Regulations on Disciplinary Sanctions'', and promulgated the ''Provisions on Promoting the Promotion of Leading Cadres'' and the Accountability of the Communist Party of China The Regulations clarify the main responsibility and supervision responsibility of governing the party and the party, and vigorously implement the "Regulations on Inner-Party Supervision" and other internal-Party Regulations. General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed that it is necessary to "build a system of internal party laws and regulations that is based on the party constitution and supported by a number of supporting internal party laws and regulations".

On the one hand, the trial of this case demonstrates the party's adherence to the ruling concept of governing the country according to law and governing the party according to law. It keeps power in the cage of the system, especially under the framework of the law. All illegal acts must be investigated by law, and the anti-corruption work should be included in the rule of law. The track is not only a high-pressure blow to corruption within the party, but also to maintain the clean and honest image of party members and honest image, the fall of high-level officials has also put into practice the basic principle of the rule of law-equality before the law. Ling Jihua used his power to seek personal gain for his family and interest groups, form cliques, trade power and sex, damage the image of the party and national interests, and was not tolerated because of his high position and power. On the contrary, there is no privilege before the law. The bright alarm bell always warns that public officials of the country are honest, self-disciplined, loyal to their duties, keep in mind the expectations of the country and the people, and live up to their mission.

3. The case of Bai Enpei taking bribes and huge amounts of property with unknown sources
On October 9, 2016, Bai Enpei, former vice chairman of the National People's Congress Environment and Resources Protection Committee,
He was sentenced to death by the Intermediate people's Court of Anyang City, Henan Province in the first instance for the crime of accepting bribes and the crime of unknown origin of a huge amount of property, with a two-year reprieve, and after his death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment according to law at the end of the two-year reprieve, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without commutation or parole.
Comments by Lu Jianping:
The typical significance of the Bai Enpei case is that this is the first case of life imprisonment. Bai Enpei accepted bribes of 0.25 billion yuan and committed the crime of a huge amount of property of unknown origin. The amount of bribes he accepted was extremely large and the circumstances were extremely serious. He should be sentenced to death for the crime. According to the latest provisions (IX) in the amendment to the Criminal Law, considering that the defendant in this case can truthfully confess the crime, plead guilty and repent, actively return the stolen goods, and have legal and discretionary circumstances of lighter punishment, the death penalty may not be executed immediately, for this reason, the death penalty shall be suspended for two years; after the two-year suspension of execution is reduced to life imprisonment according to law, life imprisonment shall not be commuted or parole.
The amendment to the Criminal Law (IX) increase the provision of life imprisonment, which can be described as a model for the legislative implementation of the criminal policy of combining justice with mercy. First of all, the death penalty should be used cautiously for immediate execution, and at the same time, the serious harm of corruption and bribery cases and various strict circumstances of the case, such as the amount of money is particularly large and the circumstances are particularly serious, and the severe punishment measures of death sentence with reprieve and life imprisonment (no commutation or parole), so as to punish the criminals of serious corruption and bribery as severely as possible on the basis of prudent use of immediate execution of death penalty, It well reflects the spirit of leniency.
The system of life imprisonment can block the "secret door" of officials from the legal level, prevent individual officials from using commutation and parole procedures to evade punishment, and prevent corrupt criminals from serving too short sentences in judicial practice. "Life imprisonment" into the sentence, can form a powerful deterrent to corrupt elements. Some corrupt officials who have been sentenced to death with a suspended death sentence may be "exempted from death" and reduced from death sentence to life imprisonment, but they have no chance of commutation or parole and will serve life sentences. Is the so-called: the death penalty can escape, living crime is inevitable! Insatiable, prison bottom wear!
4. Fast Broadcasting Company Spreading Obscene Articles for Profit
Shenzhen Kuaibo Technology Co., Ltd. intervened in the dissemination of obscene videos through a large number of cache servers in the network system and refused to perform its safety management obligations, indirectly obtaining huge illegal benefits, and was fined 10 million yuan by the people's Court of Haidian District, Beijing. Wang Xin, the legal representative of the company, and other four executives were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from three years and six months to three years, and fined. On December 15, 2016, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court upheld the first instance judgment.
Comments by Che Hao:
The fast broadcast case, which took nearly two and a half years, will be a major case recorded in the judicial history of our country. The much-anticipated effect of the live broadcast of the trial was unprecedented, triggering a collective concern about the relationship between the Internet and the law. From the perspective of judicial openness, this is very worthy of recognition. The fast broadcast case itself involves various issues such as network communication, technological neutrality and legal boundaries. Each topic has cutting-edge and eye-catching power. The combination of these topics makes the fast broadcast case a relatively rare and political sensitivity or significance. It has nothing to do with sex, and it is purely because of the problem of legal application that has triggered a great discussion in the whole society.

In today's era of information networks, is technology neutral in the face of legal regulation? In a world where each individual is connected to each other as a network, the emergence of an event or phenomenon is often the result of the combined forces of various factors, how should responsibility be identified. In the institutional arrangement and responsibility distribution of social development, only when the enterprise belongs to the enterprise and the government belongs to the government, can we avoid the dislocation of social division of labor and promote rather than hinder the development of various industries including the Internet.

The fast-broadcast case has been concluded, but the legal door to the Internet world has just opened.

5. Zhou Shifeng, Hu Shigen, Zhai Yanmin, Gou Hongguo Subversion of State Power
From August 2 to 5, 2016, the first instance of Zhou Shifeng, Hu Shigen, Zhai Yanmin, and Gou Hongguo's subversion of state power was heard in public by the Tianjin Second Intermediate People's Court and pronounced in court. The four defendants were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from seven years and six months or less, or suspended sentences, and were deprived of political rights for three to five years respectively. All four defendants pleaded guilty in court and did not appeal.
Comments by Chen Weidong:
Illegal lawyers, illegal religious organizations, Internet promoters, professional petitioners, and certain overseas anti-China organizations seem to be irrelevant, but in fact they are colluding with each other, fabricating lies, gathering trouble, slandering and slandering state agencies and their staff, and smearing The judicial system incites some people who do not know the truth to be dissatisfied with the country's political and judicial systems, and commit excessive and illegal acts, seriously endangering the rule of law and national security. The national judicial organs tried the case in accordance with the law and fairly, and confessed the "mysterious pushers" behind many hot events in recent years and their true attempts to the world, so that the public has a clear and rational understanding of this, and then consciously draw a clear line and treat it rationally. And consciously resist the temptation of reactionary forces, highlighting the important legal warning and educational significance. The professional group of lawyers is a positive force to maintain social fairness and justice. Lawyers must keep the bottom line of professional ethics and the red line of law, be loyal to the facts, respect the law, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the parties, defend the dignity and authority of the law, and be the guarantor of socialist fairness and justice. Servers of economic and social development must not use their status as lawyers to instigate parties to forge evidence or collude, interfere with normal judicial activities, let alone speculate cases, let foreign anti-China forces, planning, instigating and organizing relevant activities to attack China's socialist system and judicial system and disrupt normal social order.

This case not only sounded the alarm to every legal worker, but also to every citizen, but also issued a solemn declaration to overseas anti-China forces: any attempt to subvert China's state power, undermine China's harmony and stability, and prevent China's peaceful rise. The plot will be severely punished by the law, and it is destined to be unpopular and will surely fail. Maintaining national security and political stability is the bottom line of the Constitution and laws, the obligation of citizens, and the fundamental interests and well-being of the broadest masses of the Chinese people.

6. Tianjin Port "8 · 12" Series of Fire and Explosion Accidents
On November 9, 2016, 27 criminal cases involved in the "8 · 12" fire and explosion accident in Tianjin Port were publicly pronounced by the Tianjin Second Intermediate People's Court and 9 grassroots courts. Forty-nine responsible persons were sentenced, and Yu Xuewei, chairman of Ruihai Company, was given a suspended death sentence.
Comments by Che Hao:
The "August 12" Tianjin Hong Kong University explosion can be called the largest production safety accident since the founding of New China. The implications of this accident are manifold.

First of all, the reason why the criminal unit Ruihai Company was able to obtain a site for illegally stacking large amounts of hazardous chemicals is inseparable from the instructions provided by the relevant national staff after accepting bribes. In recent years, the emergence of some major safety production responsibility accidents, most of which involve bribery or dereliction of duty by national staff.

Second, in the handling of the "August 12" accident, the main persons in charge of several government departments were investigated for criminal responsibility. This is of exemplary significance for the accountability of similar accidents in the future. Compared with intentional and active dereliction of duty, leading cadres' dereliction of duty in supervision responsibility should also increase accountability and punishment. The concept of supervisory negligence and management negligence in criminal law theory can provide support for this mode of accountability.

Third, the Tianjin Port bombing has attracted the attention of all parties, that is, the crisis of public opinion. After the accident, the local mainstream media and relevant departments did not make timely and adequate information disclosure. this not only triggered widespread criticism, but also did nothing to help clarify the various rumors in the whole incident. How should the government deal with a major crisis caused by an emergency, by blocking, by shelving, by covering up, or by making information public? This question will not disappear with the Tianjin Port incident, but will always stand on the front road to establishing the credibility and legitimacy of the government.

7. Jia Jinglong's intentional homicide
Jia Jinglong held a grudge against he Jianhua, secretary of the village party branch and director of the village committee, because his house was demolished during the renovation of the old house in the village. On February 19, 2015, at the scene of the Spring Festival group visit in the village, he shot at he Jianhua's brain with a nail gun purchased in advance, causing him to die. The Intermediate People's Court of Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province and the Higher People's Court of Hebei Province 1. sentenced Jia Jinglong to death for intentional homicide in the second instance. The Supreme People's Court approved the death penalty in accordance with the law. On November 15, 2016, Jia Jinglong was executed.
Comments by Che Hao:
On the issue of the death penalty, the judiciary should not only consider whether the case meets the "should not be killed" of the applicable standard of the death penalty, but also consider whether to kill or not "of the social effect of the application of the death penalty in the case". At present, the theory and practice have not formed-those that do not meet the standard of "should kill" belong to "should not kill"-this kind of clear standard of either/or. On the contrary, between "should kill" and "should not kill", there are a large number of "can kill but not kill" situations. In this case, it is often necessary to further consider whether to kill or not from the perspective of consequences and policies.

In the case of Jia Jinglong's intentional homicide, many issues such as rural governance were involved, just like a ditch, which diverted the public's discussions and emotions on these social issues to the attention of the case. Not only at the level of "should not be killed", but also at the level of "should not be killed", the social effect and far-reaching impact of Jia Jinglong's death or immortality have also triggered every sincere concern for the development of Chinese society. The feelings of citizens have triggered a great discussion among all social strata. In this case, how to respond and dredge, which put forward a major test for the Supreme People's court.

In the end, the Supreme Court approved Jia Jinglong's death penalty, and the Jia case was settled. However, people's concern about the death penalty will not disappear. Whether in favor or criticism, the public comments are useful and will spur the Supreme Court to be more cautious in approving the death penalty. It will be the direction of the academic and practical circles to build a clear and flat death penalty rule system, so that people can truly feel fairness and justice in individual cases.
8. Fuxi Company Food Case
For more than a year, food products such as recycled and expired smoked-flavored patties are reprocessed and packaged for sale. On February 1, 2016, the people's Court of Jiading District of Shanghai sentenced Shanghai Fuxi Food Co., Ltd. and Fuxi Food Co., Ltd. to a fine of 1.2 million yuan for the crime of producing and selling fake and inferior products, and 10 responsible persons were sentenced.
Comments by Chen Weidong:
This case is another typical case of crime in the field of food safety in recent years. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to public food safety to a new height. The decision of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee clearly pointed out that it is necessary to "improve a unified and authoritative food and drug safety regulatory agency, establish the most stringent regulatory system covering the entire process, establish a food origin traceability system and a quality labeling system to ensure food and drug safety"; The Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee proposed to vigorously promote the construction of a healthy China and raise food safety to a strategic level. At the institutional level, the newly revised Food Safety Law in 2015 takes prevention first, risk management, whole-process control, and social co-governance as the basic principles, strict food safety prevention and control work, and strengthen the accountability of criminals. to create a stable, harmonious and healthy living environment for the people.
On the one hand, the state should strictly investigate the responsibility of violators involved in food safety according to law, and those suspected of committing crimes should be transferred to judicial organs for handling according to law. In this case, all the defendants involved in the case were punished accordingly, and the company involved was fined. The state administrative agency even imposed a fine of more than 24 million yuan on the company involved, which fully demonstrated the determination of the national level to deal with food safety issues. On the other hand, we must also realize that how to ensure food safety through all-round system regulation and governance and create a living atmosphere for the people to live and work in peace and contentment is the ultimate goal. Relevant departments should actively follow the deployment of the central government, take a highly responsible attitude to the party and the people, clarify plans, determine tasks, implement responsibilities, and comprehensively improve my country's food safety governance capabilities and guarantee levels!

9. Single County College Entrance Examination Voluntary Tampering Case
On October 25, 2016, the Shanxian People's Court of Shandong Province issued a public sentence on the case of Chen using a computer to delete and modify other people's college entrance examination volunteers, and found Chen guilty of destroying the computer information system and sentenced him to seven months in prison.
Comments by Lu Jianping:
The punishment for the crime committed by Chen is not heavy. The reason why he was selected is that this kind of crime is related to network information technology and the protection of citizens' personal information, which is universal and novel. It is said that it is common because in today's full coverage of the network, cyber crime is gradually replacing the crime in the real world, showing a momentum of rapid rise and spread on the whole, and the age of criminals tends to be younger, which brings severe challenges to the security of information network, the freedom of civil rights and even the whole social order. It is novel because the criminal means in this case have the characteristics of high technology, and the criminals use computers to delete and modify the candidates' college entrance examination volunteers stored in the online registration system of the Education examination Institute, resulting in serious consequences. According to the second paragraph of Article 286 of the Criminal Law, Chen constitutes the crime of destroying the computer information system and should bear criminal responsibility. Of course, the application of the law in this case has also caused related legal issues: the crime of destroying the computer information system is stipulated in the first section of the crime of disrupting social management order in Chapter 6 of the Criminal Law, and the real victim of the damage to the rights in this case It is a number of candidates, and the target of the crime should be the college entrance examination volunteers stored in the computer information system. This information actually determines the fate of the relevant parties. The legal protection of personal information data has become a major problem in the drafting of the general provisions of the Civil Code and the law on the protection of citizens' personal information. In the information age, personal data is not only related to the security of information network systems, but also related to the basic rights of citizens, and its legislative protection should be more rigorous and accurate. At the same time, the case also reminds all kinds of organizations that collect, use and store citizens' personal information to strictly perform their protection duties, and alert all citizens to seriously study and strictly abide by the network security law that will come into effect.

10. The country's largest network of wildlife trafficking cases
Using QQ, WeChat and other network platforms, through express delivery and other illegal purchases, transportation, and sales of national first-and second-level key protection of precious and endangered wild animals such as golden eagles, macaques, and reticulated pythons, etc., involving 23 prefectures and cities in 10 provincial administrative regions. On October 10, 2016, the People's Court of Gulou District, Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province sentenced the country's largest online wildlife trafficking case seized so far. The first 15 indicted defendants all pleaded guilty and received their sentences in court.
Comments by Chen Weidong:
This case highlights two significant problems: First, with the improvement of material living standards, criminals are becoming more and more enthusiastic about the collection, sale and consumption of endangered wild animals. Wildlife smuggling has become the illegal trade second only to drugs and arms in the world, which seriously threatens the natural ecological balance and the sustainable development of human society. It is urgent to punish such illegal and criminal acts. The law should better assume the role of "protector.

Second, the people involved in this case used the network, logistics and other means with high activity, circulation and concealment to realize the sale and transportation of endangered animals involved in the case. Defendant Zhang's mobile phone contains more than 30 WeChat groups and QQ groups involved in the exchange and trading of protected wild animals. Each group has as few as 100 people and as many as 500 people. The members of the group involve the whole country and even abroad. The development of network platform and logistics industry has opened a convenient door for criminals. The state should pay enough attention to this and focus on regulating it.

In recent years, my country has joined the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and has successively promulgated the Wildlife Protection Law, the Implementation Regulations on the Protection of Terrestrial Wildlife, the Implementation Regulations on the Protection of Aquatic Wildlife, and related wildlife protection regulations, which have initially formed a relatively reasonable legal system. The judgment in this case demonstrates my country's determination to resolutely crack down on wildlife crimes, maintain ecological balance, and ensure national ecological stability and safety. At the same time, the protection of wild animals needs the attention, support and publicity of the state, as well as the public's practice of protection concept from the daily life behavior, and actively fight against relevant illegal and criminal acts, which is not only for the natural environment, but also for the harmonious development of human beings.