Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 8, 2012
Chapter II Investigation
Section 1 General Provisions
Article 89 With respect to a criminal case which has been filed, the public security organ shall carry out investigation, collecting and obtaining evidence to prove the criminal suspect guilty or innocent or to prove the crime to be minor or grave. Active criminals or major suspects may be detained first according to law, and criminal suspects who meet the conditions for arrest shall be arrested according to law.
Article 90 After investigation, the public security organ shall start preliminary inquiry into a case for which there is evidence that supports the facts of the crime, in order to verify the evidence which has been collected and obtained.
Section 2 Interrogation of the Criminal Suspect
Article 91 Interrogation of a criminal suspect must be conducted by the investigators of a People's Procuratorate or public security organ. During an interrogation, there must be no fewer than two investigators participating.
Article 92 A criminal suspect who need not be arrested or detained may be summoned to a designated place in the city or county where the criminal suspect stays for interrogation, or he may be interrogated at his residence. However, the interrogators shall produce their papers issued by a People's Procuratorate or a public security organ.
The time for interrogation through summons or forced appearance shall not exceed 12 hours. A criminal suspect shall not be detained under the disguise of successive summons or forced appearance.
Article 93 When interrogating a criminal suspect, the investigators shall first ask the criminal suspect whether or not he has committed any criminal act, and let him state the circumstances of his guilt or explain his innocence; then they may ask him questions. The criminal suspect shall answer the investigators' questions truthfully, but he shall have the right to refuse to answer any questions that are irrelevant to the case.
Article 94 During the interrogation of a criminal suspect who is deaf or mute, an officer who has a good command of sign language shall participate, and such circumstances shall be noted in the record.
Article 95 The record of an interrogation shall be shown to the criminal suspect for checking; if the criminal suspect cannot read, the record shall be read to him. If there are omissions or errors in the record, the criminal suspect may make additions or corrections. When the criminal suspect acknowledges that the record is free from error, he shall sign or affix his seal to it. The investigators shall also sign the record. If the criminal suspect requests to write a personal statement, he shall be permitted to do so. When necessary, the investigators may also ask the criminal suspect to write a personal statement.
Article 96 After the criminal suspect is interrogated by an investigation organ for the first time or from the day on which compulsory measures are adopted against him, he may appoint a lawyer to provide him with legal advice and to file petitions and complaints on his behalf. If the criminal suspect is arrested, the appointed lawyer may apply on his behalf for obtaining a guarantor pending trial. If a case involves State secrets, the criminal suspect shall have to obtain the approval of the investigation organ for appointing a lawyer.
The appointed lawyer shall have the right to find out from the investigation organ about the crime suspected of, and may meet with the criminal suspect in custody to enquire about the case. When the lawyer meets with the criminal suspect in custody, the investigation organ may, in light of the seriousness of the crime and where it deems it necessary, send its people to be present at the meeting. If a case involves State secrets, before the lawyer meets with the criminal suspect, he shall have to obtain the approval of the investigation organ.
Section 3 Questioning of the Witnesses
Article 97 Investigators may question a witness at his unit or residence, but they must produce a certificate issued by a People's Procuratorate or public security organ. When necessary, they may also notify the witness to give testimony at the People's Procuratorate or public security organ.
Witnesses shall be questioned individually.
Article 98 When a witness is questioned, he shall be instructed to provide evidence and give testimony truthfully and shall be informed of the legal responsibility that shall be incurred for intentionally giving false testimony or concealing criminal evidence.
When a witness under the age of 18 is questioned, his legal representative may be notified to be present.
Article 99 The provisions of Article 95 of this Law shall also apply to the questioning of witnesses.
Article 100 The provisions of all articles in this Section shall apply to the questioning of victims.
Section 4 Inquest and Examination
Article 101 Investigators shall conduct an inquest or examination of the sites, objects, people and corpses relevant to a crime. When necessary, experts may be assigned or invited to conduct an inquest or examination under the direction of the investigators.
Article 102 Each and every unit and individual shall have the duty to preserve the scene of a crime and to immediately notify a public security organ to send officers to hold an inquest.
Article 103 To conduct an inquest or examination, the investigators must have papers issued by a People's Procuratorate or a public security organ.
Article 104 If the cause of a death is unclear, a public security organ shall have the power to order an autopsy and shall notify the family members of the deceased to be present.
Article 105 An examination may be conducted of the person of the victim or criminal suspect in order to ascertain some of his characteristics or physiological condition, or the circumstances of the injury.
If a criminal suspect refuses to be examined, the investigators, when they deem it necessary, may conduct a compulsory examination.
Examination of the persons of women shall be conducted by female officers or doctors.
Article 106 A record shall be made of the circumstances of an inquest or examination, and it shall be signed or sealed by the participants in the inquest or examination and the eyewitnesses.
Article 107 If, in reviewing a case, a People's Procuratorate deems it necessary to repeat an inquest or examination that has been done by a public security organ, it may ask the latter to conduct another inquest or examination and may send procurators to participate in it.
Article 108 When necessary and with the approval of the director of a public security bureau, investigative experiments may be conducted in order to clarify the circumstances of a case.
In conducting investigative experiments, it shall be forbidden to take any action which is hazardous, humiliating to anyone, or offensive to public morals.
Section 5 Search
Article 109 In order to collect criminal evidence and track down an offender, investigators may search the person, belongings and residence of the criminal suspect and anyone who might be hiding a criminal or criminal evidence, as well as other relevant places.
Article 110 Any unit or individual shall have the duty, as required by the People's Procuratorate or the public security organ, to hand over material evidence, documentary evidence or audio-visual material which may prove the criminal suspect guilty or innocent.
Article 111 When a search is to be conducted, a search warrant must be shown to the person to be searched.
If an emergency occurs when an arrest or detention is being made, a search may be conducted without a search warrant.
Article 112 During a search, the person to be searched or his family members, neighbours or other eyewitnesses shall be present at the scene.
Searches of the persons of women shall be conducted by female officers.
Article 113 A record shall be made of the circumstances of a search, and it shall be signed or sealed by the investigators and the person searched or his family members, neighbours or other eyewitnesses. If the person searched or his family members have become fugitives or refuse to sign or affix their seals to the record, this shall be noted in the record.
Section 6 Seizure of Material Evidence and Documentary Evidence
Article 114 Any articles and documents discovered during an inquest or search that may be used to prove a criminal suspect's guilt or innocence shall be seized. Articles and documents which are irrelevant to the case may not be seized.
Seized articles and documents shall be properly kept or sealed for safekeeping and may not be utilized or damaged.
Article 115 All seized articles and documents shall be carefully checked by the investigators jointly with the eyewitnesses and the holder of the articles; a detailed list shall be made in duplicate on the spot and shall be signed or sealed by the investigators, the eyewitnesses and the holder. One copy of the list shall be given to the holder, and the other copy shall be kept on file for reference.
Article 116 If the investigators deem it necessary to seize the mail or telegrams of a criminal suspect, they may, upon approval of a public security organ or a People's Procuratorate, notify the post and telecommunications offices to check and hand over the relevant mail and telegrams for seizure.
When it becomes unnecessary to continue a seizure, the post and telecommunications offices shall be immediately notified.
Article 117 The People's Procuratorates and the public security organs may, as required by investigation of crimes, inquire into or freeze criminal suspects' deposits or remittances according to regulations.
If the deposits or remittances of the criminal suspects have been frozen, they shall not be frozen for a second time.
Article 118 If any seized articles, documents, mail, telegrams or frozen deposits and remittances are proved through investigation to be truly irrelevant to a case, the seizure and freeze shall be cancelled within three days, and the things shall be returned to their original owners or the original post and telecommunications offices.
Section 7 Expert Evaluation
Article 119 When certain special problems relating to a case need to be solved in order to clarify the circumstances of the case, experts shall be assigned or invited to give their evaluations.
Article 120 After evaluating a matter, the experts shall write a conclusion of expert evaluation and affix his signature to it.
Reverification necessitated by disputes over medical verification of personal injuries and medical verification of mental illness shall be conducted by a hospital designated by a people's government at the provincial level. After verification, the expert shall make a conclusion in writing, to which his signature and the hospital's seal shall be affixed.
If an expert intentionally makes a false verification, he shall assume legal responsibility.
Article 121 The investigation organ shall notify the criminal suspect and the victim of the conclusion of the expert verification which will be used as evidence in his case. A supplementary expert verification or another expert verification may be conducted upon application submitted by the criminal suspect or the victim.
Article 122 The period during which the mental illness of a criminal suspect is under verification shall not be included in the period of time for handling the case.
Section 8 Wanted Orders
Article 123 If a criminal suspect who should be arrested is a fugitive, a public security organ may issue a wanted order and take effective measures to pursue him for arrest and bring him to justice.
Public security organs at any level may directly issue wanted orders within the areas under their jurisdiction; they shall request a higher-level organ with the proper authority to issue such orders for areas beyond their jurisdiction.
Section 9 Conclusion of Investigation
Article 124 The time limit for holding a criminal suspect in custody during investigation after arrest shall not exceed two months. If the case is complex and cannot be concluded within the time limit, an extension of one month may be allowed with the approval of the People's Procuratorate at the next higher level.
Article 125 If due to special reasons, it is not appropriate to hand over a particularly grave and complex case for trial even within a relatively long period of time, the Supreme People's Procuratorate shall submit a report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for approval of postponing the hearing of the case.
Article 126 With respect to the following cases, if investigation cannot be concluded within the time limit specified in Article 124 of this Law, an extension of two months may be allowed upon approval or decision by the People's Procuratorate of a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government:
(1) grave and complex cases in outlying areas where traffic is most inconvenient;
(2) grave cases that involve criminal gangs;
(3) grave and complex cases that involve people who commit crimes from one place to another; and
(4) grave and complex cases that involve various quarters and for which it is difficult to obtain evidence.
Article 127 If in the case of a criminal suspect who may be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of ten years at least, investigation of the case can still not be concluded upon expiration of the extended time limit as provided in Article 126 of this Law, another extension of two months may be allowed upon approval or decision by the People's Procuratorate of a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government.
Article 128 If during the period of investigation a criminal suspect is found to have committed other major crimes, the time limit for holding the criminal suspect in custody during investigation shall be recalculated, in accordance with the provisions of Article 124 of this Law, from the date on which such crimes are found.
If a criminal suspect does not tell his true name and address and his identity is unknown, the time limit for holding him in custody during investigation shall be calculated from the date on which his identity is found out. However, before then, the investigation into his crime and obtaining of evidence shall not be ceased. If the facts of a crime are clear and the evidence is reliable and sufficient, the case may, by the name given by the criminal suspect himself, be transferred to a People's Procuratorate for examination and prosecution.
Article 129 After a public security organ has concluded its investigation of a case, the facts should be clear and the evidence reliable and sufficient and, in addition, it shall make a written recommendation for prosecution, which shall be transferred, together with the case file and evidence, to the People's Procuratorate at the same level for examination and decision.
Article 130 If it is discovered during investigation that a criminal suspect's criminal responsibility should not have been investigated, the case shall be dismissed; if the criminal suspect is under arrest, he shall be released immediately and issued a release certificate, and the People's Procuratorate which originally approved the arrest shall be notified.
Section 10 Investigation of Cases Directly Accepted by the People's Procuratorates
Article 131 Investigation of cases directly accepted by the People's Procuratorates shall be governed by the provisions of this Chapter.
Article 132 If a case directly accepted by a People's Procuratorate conforms with the conditions provided in Article 60 and in sub-paragraph (4) or sub-paragraph (5) of Article 61 of this Law, thus arrest or detention of the criminal suspect is necessitated, the decision thereon shall be made by the People's Procuratorate and executed by a public security organ.
Article 133 A detainee in a case directly accepted by a People's Procuratorate shall be interrogated within 24 hours after the detention. If it is found that the person should not have been detained, he must be released immediately and issued a release certificate. If an arrest is necessitated but the evidence is insufficient, the detainee may be allowed to obtain a guarantor pending trial or be subjected to residential surveillance.
Article 134 If a People's Procuratorate deems it necessary to arrest a detainee in a case directly accepted by it, it shall make a decision thereon within 10 days after the detention. Under special circumstances, the time limit for deciding on an arrest may be extended by one to four days. If arrest is unnecessary, the detainee shall be released immediately; if the case requires further investigation and the detainee meets the conditions for obtaining a guarantor pending trial or for residential surveillance, he shall be allowed to obtain a guarantor pending trial or be subjected to residential surveillance according to law.
Article 135 After a People's Procuratorate has concluded its investigation of a case, it shall make a decision to initiate public prosecution, not to initiate a prosecution or to dismiss the case.
