1. Uncertainty of legal provisions. The "Organic Law of the People's Courts" only stipulates that the chief prosecutor of the People's Procuratorate at the same level can attend the judicial committee as a non-voting delegate, but does not provide for the judicial committee as a non-voting delegate. This is a provision authorized by law and is highly uncertain and arbitrary. In practice, people's courts and people's procuratorates often have different understandings and applications of this provision. The main view of the People's Court is that whether the Chief Prosecutor can participate in the Judicial Committee of the People's Court should be decided by the court, that is, whether the Chief Prosecutor can participate in the Judgmental Committee of the People's Court depends on the attitude of the People's Court, and the initiative lies with the People's Court; the People's Procuratorate's view is whether the Chief Prosecutor can Whether the procuratorate can make a request to attend the judicial committee as a non-voting witness, that is, after receiving the request from the People's Procuratorate, the People's Court should arrange for the chief prosecutor to attend the judicial committee as a non-voting witness. In this way, the initiative lies with the People's Procuratorate. It is precisely because of the uncertainty of this provision in the law that it is sometimes difficult for the two levels of courts to reach an agreement on the starting procedures for specific cases, which makes it difficult to effectively implement the system of the prosecutor general attending the People's Court Judicial Committee in practice.
2. The scope of participation in supervision is not clear. The "Organic Law of the People's Courts" only stipulates that the chief prosecutor can attend the judicial committee of the People's Court. However, there are no specific and clear legal provisions on which cases the chief prosecutor should participate in the trial committee, and the scope, extent and responsibility of the chief prosecutor's supervision of cases. Judging from the practice of our hospital, there are no specific regulations on whether a case can be supervised, the specific scope of supervision, etc. , they can only proceed according to their own understanding and the way they think is appropriate. The People's Court also dealt with it passively because there were no specific rigid regulations, making it difficult for the chief prosecutor to participate in the trial committee smoothly and effectively.
3. Lack of necessary attendance procedures. For the prosecutor general to attend the trial committee as a non-voting member is a serious legal act that requires close cooperation between the two courts, and this will inevitably involve issues of procedural standards. The "Organic Law of the People's Courts" and other laws and regulations do not stipulate the specific procedures for attending as a non-voting witness, such as the starting procedure for the Chief Prosecutor to attend the trial committee, who will make the final decision, when the People's Court will notify the People's Procuratorate and the Chief Prosecutor to attend as a non-voting witness, the method of notification, and the Chief Prosecutor's participation in the trial. The order and content of committee statements, etc. Since there are no procedural provisions, it is difficult to coordinate between the two courts in practice. As a result, the system of the prosecutor general participating in the trial committee objectively affects the implementation effect.
4. Lack of definition of the main scope of participants in the meeting. According to the literal interpretation of the provisions of the Organic Law of the People's Courts regarding the attendance of the chief prosecutor on the judicial committee of the people's court, it seems that only the chief prosecutor can attend the judicial committee of the people's court, and no other person, including the deputy chief prosecutor, is allowed to attend. But in fact, according to the nature of the procuratorial organ and the powers of the chief prosecutor, the deputy prosecutor of the procuratorate can exercise the powers of the chief prosecutor based on the authorization of the chief prosecutor. However, the "Organic Law of the People's Courts" and other laws do not clearly stipulate whether this situation is possible. There is also whether the prosecutor general can bring assistants and case handling personnel to attend the meeting, etc. , because there are no express provisions, it is easy for the two courts to have differences, affecting the smooth progress of the meeting.
Under the current situation of further deepening the reform of the judicial system and mechanisms, it is necessary to continuously improve and improve the system of the Chief Prosecutor's attendance at the People's Court Judicial Committee and strive to promote judicial fairness. The author believes that to improve this system, suggestions can be made from the following aspects.
(1) Improve laws and regulations. Due to the unique function of the system of the Prosecutor General's participation in the People's Court Judicial Committee, it is necessary to improve legislation so that this function can truly be brought into play in judicial practice. From September to June 2005, 5438+00, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Supreme People's Court successively issued the "Three-year Implementation Plan for Further Deepening Procuratorial Reform" and the "Second Five-Year Reform Outline of the People's Courts", which will implement the practice of the chief prosecutor to attend the judicial committee. System as a "two highs" reform. This provides reform impetus and direction for the legislation to improve the system of the prosecutor general's participation in the adjudication committee. In terms of amending and improving separate laws, it is necessary to amend and improve the Organic Law of the People's Courts.
For example, in the process of revision and improvement, on the issues of "should" and "may", we can stipulate in principle the circumstances under which the chief prosecutor should "attend the judicial committee" and under what circumstances he can "attend the judicial committee", etc. , making the law clear and operable, which can reduce and avoid the effects of system implementation caused by different understandings of the law. In addition, relevant supporting laws and regulations should be formulated and improved to ensure the perfection of laws and regulations for the implementation of this system.
(2) Strengthen understanding and cooperation between the courts of the two places. The effective implementation of the system of the chief prosecutor's attendance at the People's Court Judicial Committee will inevitably require the coordination and cooperation of the two levels of courts. For the implementation of this system, we must first unify the understanding of this system between the courts and the procuratorial organs. In particular, the procuratorial organs must take the initiative to communicate with the people's courts, so that the people's courts can subjectively realize that they should accept supervision in accordance with the law, so as to improve their behavior. Take the initiative to accept supervision. More importantly, the author believes that relevant regulations for the implementation of this system should be formulated to facilitate the legal procuratorate's standardization and long-term implementation of this system, which requires good communication and cooperation between the judicial procuratorate and the judicial procuratorate. Specific provisions are made on the procedures, scope of supervision, determination of participants, etc. to facilitate operation and implementation in practice. In this regard, some local courts and procuratorates have already conducted exploration and practice. For example, the People's Court of Nanxun District, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province and the People's Procuratorate jointly issued the "Interim Regulations on the Chief Prosecutor's Attendance in the Judicial Committee of the People's Court", which compulsorily requires the Chief Prosecutor to attend the judicial committee of the court at the same level. This provision applies to criminal cases, civil and commercial cases, and administrative cases, and clarifies five types of cases in which the adjudication committee must notify the prosecutor general to attend as a non-voting witness, and six types of cases in which the judicial committee can notify the prosecutor general to attend as a non-voting witness. At the same time, it also stipulates the specific procedures for the chief prosecutor to attend the judicial committee. Such attempts and explorations are conducive to the operation and implementation of this system in practice.
(3) Improve the legal supervision capabilities of the procuratorial organs. The essence of the system of the chief procurator's participation in the People's Court Judicial Committee is that the procuratorial organs perform legal supervision duties in accordance with the law, supervise the People's Court's exercise of judicial power in accordance with the law, and ensure judicial fairness. In order for this system to truly exert its due supervisory effect, in addition to making some innovations and regulations in the system, it is an inevitable requirement to improve the legal supervision capabilities of the procuratorial organs. The Chief Prosecutor's attendance at the Judicial Committee of the People's Court is not an ordinary attendance at a meeting, nor is it a casual listening to the discussions of the Judicial Committee, nor is it just a formality. It is about the prior supervision of the procuratorial organs, to discover and avoid problems that affect fair judgments as early as possible, and to ensure that Justice in judgment. This requires the prosecutor general to have strong legal supervision capabilities. The chief prosecutor attending the meeting must not only understand the facts, evidence, law, doubts and difficulties of the case, but also understand the procedures, content and timing of the speeches of the People's Court Judicial Committee, and have a good grasp of them, and strive to serve as an observer Achieve the best supervision results.
(The author is the Chief Prosecutor of Fengtai County Procuratorate, Anhui Province)