After a long period of careful planning, Liu stole the 100 meter insulated copper core incoming line from an electric power company in a neighboring village, worth more than 5,000 yuan. A few days later, he was arrested by the public security organs, and later he was charged with criminal proceedings. The court of first instance held that Liu's behavior constituted theft, sentenced him to fixed-term imprisonment of 1 year and fined 200 yuan. Liu refuses to accept and wants to appeal, but he is worried that the court of second instance will not only not support his appeal, but will aggravate the sentence. So, will the court of second instance increase the sentence? Lawyer's review
The court of second instance will not change the sentence to a heavier one. This case involves the principle of no additional punishment on appeal. The principle of no additional punishment on appeal means that the people's court of second instance shall try a case in which only the defendant appeals, and shall not increase the defendant's punishment for any reason. The reason why the law stipulates this is to reassure the parties and fully exercise their right of appeal.
In this case, Liu doesn't have to worry that the court of second instance will aggravate the sentence. He only needs to exercise the right of appeal according to law, and other concerns are superfluous. The court of second instance will retry the case. If the judgment of the court of first instance is too heavy, the court of second instance will change the judgment in time; If the judgment of the court of first instance is correct, the court of second instance will uphold the original judgment.
legal ground
Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 226 The people's court of second instance shall not increase the punishment of the defendant when trying the case appealed by the defendant, his legal representative, defender or close relatives. The people's court of second instance shall not increase the punishment of the defendant unless there are new criminal facts, and the people's procuratorate shall make supplementary prosecution.
Where a people's procuratorate lodges a protest or a private prosecutor lodges an appeal, it shall not be restricted by the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
Special reminder
The principle of no additional punishment on appeal is one of the principles that the court of second instance must abide by. The basic starting point is to protect the defendant's right to appeal, prevent him from suffering adverse consequences due to appeal, strengthen the supervision and guidance of the higher court to the lower court, and improve the level of public prosecution and protest of the procuratorate.