The investigation power of criminal cases belongs to public security organs, procuratorates and courts. The Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that people's courts, people's procuratorates and public security organs have the right to collect and obtain evidence from relevant units and individuals. The relevant units and individuals shall truthfully provide evidence.
Whether defense lawyers have the right to investigate and collect evidence has always been controversial.
The amendment to the Criminal Procedure Law submitted to the National People's Congress for discussion (lawyer's proposal) suggests that the Criminal Procedure Law should clarify the lawyer's right to investigate and collect evidence. And put forward eight amendments. The newly adopted Criminal Procedure Law adopted these eight opinions.
Phenomenon Article 37 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates:
With the consent of witnesses or other relevant units and individuals, defense lawyers may collect materials related to the case from them, apply to the people's procuratorate or the people's court to collect and obtain evidence, or apply to the people's court to notify witnesses to testify in court.
With the permission of the people's procuratorate or the people's court, and with the consent of the victim or his close relatives or witnesses provided by the victim, the defense lawyer may collect materials related to the case from them.
The new criminal procedure law has not made any changes to article 37.
Defence lawyers must abide by the Criminal Procedure Law and must not violate Article 37 when collecting evidence.
Second, what are the precautions for criminal defense lawyers to apply for investigation and evidence collection?
The basic information of the applicant, that is, the name, mailing address, contact information and the relationship with the interested parties in this case, shall be stated.
Clarify the application matters, that is, clarify the specific matters and basis for applying for investigation and evidence collection.
State the reasons for the application, first state the name of the defendant and the alleged crime, and then state the object, name and reasons for the investigation. Finally, state the legal basis and reiterate your application.
The names of the courts and procuratorates that submitted the application for criminal investigation and evidence collection shall be stated. Signature of the applicant and the time of submitting the application.
Appendix; Indicate the name, home address or contact information of the object being investigated and collected. Scope and content of investigation and evidence collection.
3. What are the scope of investigation and evidence collection of defense lawyers?
The scope of defense lawyers' investigation and evidence collection includes: evidence investigation, accepting the entrustment of the parties in civil cases, investigating and planning to collect relevant litigation and non-litigation evidence; Intellectual property investigation, investigating cases of infringement of intellectual property rights such as trademark rights, patents, copyrights and trade secrets; Investigate the whereabouts of the property of the person subjected to execution; Enterprise credit survey.