If the private prosecutor and the defendant appeal at the same time, can the court of second instance increase the defendant's punishment?

Editor: Recently, we encountered a case in which both the original defendant and the defendant appealed and prosecuted at the same time. In the second trial, the court of first instance revoked the original judgment of the defendant's one-year imprisonment and sentenced the defendant to three years' imprisonment, which aggravated the defendant's punishment. In this regard, some comrades believe that according to the provisions of the second paragraph of Article 137 of the Criminal Procedure Law, the court of second instance may revise the sentence and increase the defendant's punishment. Another opinion is that according to the first paragraph, the defendant's punishment should not be aggravated. If it is considered that the original sentence of first instance is too light and it is really necessary to aggravate the punishment, it should be sent back to the court of first instance for trial according to the provisions of Article 136. The court of second instance cannot change the sentence to aggravate the defendant's punishment, otherwise it will violate the provisions of Article 137 of the Criminal Procedure Law. There is no clear stipulation in the Criminal Procedure Law for cases of private prosecution in which the original defendant and the defendant appeal at the same time. Can the defendant's punishment be aggravated? Please answer. Comrade Jiang Qinshan, People's Court of Laiwu County, Shandong Province: As mentioned in the letter, there are actually two questions. Is the court of first, second and second instance sending such cases back to the court of first instance for retrial or directly changing the sentence? The first paragraph of Article 137 of China's Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that the people's court of second instance shall not aggravate the defendant's punishment when trying the case appealed by the defendant or his legal representative, defender or close relatives.