Appeal cases, that is, second-instance cases, must in principle be heard in court, but in some cases they may not be heard in court.
In layman’s terms, remanding for retrial means that the second-instance court believes that there are serious problems with the evidence and fact-finding of the first-instance court and requires the first-instance court to retry the case.
See the following legal provisions:
Article 223 of the Criminal Procedure Law
The people's court of second instance shall form a collegial panel for the following cases , court hearing:
(1) Appeal cases in which the defendant, private prosecutor and his litigation agent have objections to the facts and evidence found in the first instance, which may affect the conviction and sentencing;
(2) Appeal cases in which the defendant was sentenced to death;
(3) Cases in which the People’s Procuratorate protests;
(4) Other cases that should be heard in court.
If the people's court of second instance decides not to hold a trial, it shall interrogate the defendant and listen to the opinions of other parties, defenders, and agents ad litem.
Article 225: When the second-instance people’s court hears appeals and protest cases against the first-instance judgment, it shall handle them respectively according to the following circumstances:
(1) Original judgment If the facts are correctly determined and the law is applied, and the sentence is appropriate, the appeal or protest shall be dismissed and the original judgment shall be upheld; (2) the original judgment has no errors in determining the facts, but (2) the original judgment has no errors in the application of the law, or If the sentence is inappropriate, the sentence should be changed;
(3) If the facts found in the original judgment are unclear and the evidence is insufficient, the sentence may be changed after the facts are found out; the original judgment may also be revoked and sent back to the original People's Court for retrial.
After the first-instance People's Court renders a judgment on a case that is remanded for retrial in accordance with the provisions of Item 3 of the preceding paragraph, and the defendant files an appeal or the People's Procuratorate files a protest, the second-instance People's Court shall make a judgment in accordance with the law or It was ruled that the case shall not be remanded to the People's Court of first instance for retrial.
Article 228: The people's court of first instance shall form a separate collegial panel to hear a case returned for retrial in accordance with the procedures of first instance. As for the judgment after retrial, an appeal or protest may be made in accordance with the provisions of Articles 216, 217 and 218 of this Law.
Ordering a retrial can indicate that the court of second instance believes that the facts of the case are unclear, the evidence is insufficient, whether the preliminary defense work was effective, and there may be other specific issues that can be investigated.