" Article 20 " is a popular movie during the Spring Festival this year. After the film was broadcast, it also triggered heated discussions among the public about the legitimate defense clause of Article 20 of the "Criminal Law". The application of the legitimate defense clause usually involves a balance between law and reason, which is a difficulty and pain point in judicial practice. Only the persistence of countless law enforcement and judicial personnel in fairness and justice can the judiciary be powerful, right and wrong, and warm, so as to be better. Achieve fairness and justice.
Watch the movie "Article 20"
Learn about "Article 20" of the "Criminal Law"
The origin of the title of the movie "Article 20" refers to Article 20 of our country's "Criminal Law" - "Legitimate Defense" Legal terms. The
movie "Article 20" interprets a typical self-defense case - "The Assassination of Liu Wenjing by Wang Yongqiang". Wang Yongqiang's family owed usury to village bully Liu Wenjing in order to treat their child. Liu Wenjing killed Wang Yongqiang's dog to collect the debt, tied Wang Yongqiang to the door with a dog chain, raped Wang Yongqiang's deaf-mute wife many times, and threatened to kill him with a knife. In fear and despair, Wang Yongqiang picked up a pair of scissors and stabbed him randomly, seriously injuring the village bully and later succumbing to his injuries.
The handling of such a self-defense case has caused the procuratorate and the prosecutors Han Ming and Lu Lingling who handled the case to encounter a lot of pressure and obstacles, including the difficulty of identifying key evidence, threats from the family of the deceased, and traditional thinking. Trapped by ideas and judicial inertia. The narrative unfolding of the film shows the process of prosecutors clearing away the fog of the case, breaking through heavy pressure, and resolutely defending justice. This process is also a microcosm of the history of judicial practice of "justifiable defense" in our country.
" Justifiable Defense " Legal Clause
Why was it once called a "sleeping law"?
In fact, the concept and legal provisions of "justifiable defense" have been around for a long time. In 1979, my country's "Criminal Law" established the legitimate defense system. In 1997, the "Criminal Law" was revised and established the "unlimited right of defense" system.
However, for a long period of time in the past, this legal provision was insufficient, ineffective, and its value was not fully realized, which is what society calls a "sleeping" state. There are various reasons for this state of affairs, but the restraints from the traditional concepts of "killing for life" and "whoever is killed or injured is justified" and judicial inertia are particularly prominent.
To fully activate the judicial application of the legal provisions of legitimate defense, case-handling agencies and case-handling personnel need to have absolute persistence in fairness and justice, great courage to challenge tradition and self-innovation of judicial concepts.
Activate dormant legal provisions
Promote the concept that "the law cannot yield to the law"
Justifiable defense cases and issues continue to attract widespread attention from society, reflecting the common demands of the people for democracy, rule of law, fairness, justice, and security in the new era.
In order to better respond to the demands of the people, in December 2018, the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued the twelfth batch of guiding cases, including the Yu Haiming legitimate defense case (Kunshan anti-murder case) and other four legitimate cases that are widely concerned by the society. In cases of defense or excessive defense, we will specifically explain the boundaries and grasping standards of legitimate defense, further clarify the protection of the right to legitimate defense, actively solve outstanding problems in the application of legitimate defense, and provide procuratorial organs with a reference for judicial case handling. In September 2020, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on the Application of the Justifiable Defense System in accordance with the Law", making systematic provisions on relevant issues involved in the application of the justifiable defense system in accordance with the law.
These institutional-level innovations have fully activated the application of legal provisions on legitimate defense, better safeguarded the value of fairness and justice in legal provisions in terms of entities, procedures, and effects, and truly delivered this value to the masses.
The value pursuit of prosecutors:
Handle every case with high quality and efficiency
Art comes from life. In the movie "Article 20", the movie characters prosecutors Han Ming and Lu Lingling persisted in upholding fairness and justice, and solved the "Wang Yongqiang assassination case of Liu Wenjing" through tortuous and difficult efforts.
In addition to the film, there are many real cases that have promoted the progress of the rule of law, such as the "Kunshan Anti-Murder Case", "Fuzhou Zhao Yu Case", "Laiyuan Anti-Murder Case", as well as countless similar "Old Man Zhang's Justifiable Defense Cases" handled by the Zhijin County Procuratorate. These cases can all be regarded as story prototypes that support the core of the movie.
It can be said that the portraits of prosecutors in the film are a microcosm of the prosecutorial team in the new era. Fortunately, we have countless real-life prosecutors "Han Ming" and "Lv Lingling", countless law enforcement and judicial personnel who are persistent in safeguarding fairness and justice, have the collective wisdom and responsibility to adapt to the changes and development of the rule of law in the new era, and have countless people who can't stick to the law. The confidence of the rule of law to give in to illegality. This is the best interpretation of the concept of "handling every case with high quality and efficiency" proposed by the Party Committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the best interpretation of "let the people feel fairness and justice in every case."
(The author is Xie Qingjiang, People’s Procuratorate of Zhijin County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province)
Source | People’s Procuratorate of Zhijin County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province
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