** Hongkou Procuratorate.
Author: Lai Chenchen
Hongkou District Procuratorate.
Prosecutor of the First Public Prosecutor's Department.
From the case of Yu Huan's humiliation of his mother in 2016 to the Kunshan anti-homicide case in 2018, it has been seven or eight years. In the past seven or eight years, as a grassroots case-handling person, I can personally feel that marked progress has been made in the application of Article 20 of the Criminal Law of our country, and that "the law cannot yield to the lawless" is being effectively implemented.
Movies are based on real life. But in reality, people's personalities are more complex and diverse, and a person's behavior in different environments due to different motives is often incompatible, and the plot direction of the case in reality cannot have a perfect ending like a movie. Film works, through artistic creation, try to stir up the emotions and ideals that are suppressed in our hearts every day, and also let us have a deeper thinking about some social phenomena.
After the movie was released, many people wrote reviews on the Internet, and there were many different voices. For example, for the sake of the fairness and truth of the case, are the judiciary really willing to take the initiative to correct themselves and "slap themselves in the face"? All kinds of sharp questions and doubts have always existed, but now prosecutors are increasingly courageous and confident to answer rather than avoid them, and this time, we answer them through a movie.
In fact, the ultimate answer to the above questions lies in the hearts of each of our procurators, which is a system issue in judicial practice, and it is also a question of ideals and beliefs. It is not an easy task to implement the eight big characters of the Criminal Law, which are clearly defined at the beginning of the Criminal Law, "punish crimes and protect the people." The specific handling of many cases can reflect whether we have a sense of reverence for the legitimate defense system or other legal systems, and whether we have a humanistic heart for each specific person behind the case.
For example, in many cases of minor injuries in which they fight each other, the cause of which is described as "fighting each other over trivial matters", but "fighting each other" is not the same as "fighting each other". As a matter of fact, the key to determining mutual assault is to find out the cause of the incident and to find out whether there were any fights or mutual provocations. We must make strict determinations based on the causes of different cases, on the basis of comprehensive evidence collection and review, and in light of the actual situation.
In 2023, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Proper Handling of Minor Injury Cases in Accordance with Law", which clearly stipulates that where a dispute arises over trivial matters and neither party can exercise restraint and a fight is triggered, where the party at fault acts first and the means are obviously excessive, or where one party acts first and continues to infringe despite the other party's efforts to avoid conflict, and the party who fights back causes harm to the other party, it shall generally be found to be legitimate defense. Montesquieu once said: "A good legislator is more concerned with preventing crime than with punishing it, and with encouraging good customs more than imposing punishment." "Encouraging legitimate defense, by extension, is also protecting the legitimate rights and interests of those who act bravely, which is to further reflect the humanistic care of the judiciary.
Article 20" movie is placed in the Chinese New Year file, but for the prosecutor, this is not only a moment of entertainment and relaxation, but also a lot of inspiration behind the tears and touching. In the end, we still have to base ourselves on facts and evidence and achieve fairness and justice through handling cases. We must always insist on thinking about how the parties and the public will feel through handling a case. Every time we hit the keyboard to write the indictment, every time we make a loud statement in court, we are making the most wonderful and touching movie of life for ourselves and others.
on the Internet.