Research On Investigators Of Supervisory Commission To Testify In Court

Over the past five years,theoretical research and juridical practice based on the reform of the national supervisory system have been steadily enriched and developed.The promulgation of the "Supervision Law" and its enforcement regulations have constructed and refined the institutional framework for the supervisory system with Chinese characteristics,and broaden the paths of connection between the “Law of Criminal Procedure” and the "Supervision Law".In particular,the "Regulations for the Implementation of the Supervision Law",which came into effect in September 2021,responded to the hot issue about whether the investigators of supervisory commission should appear before the court.In this context,this paper points out the importance of establishing and consummating the institution of supervisory investigators’ testimony from theory and practice sides,analyzes the existing problems through the current situation of the system,and puts forward consummation proposals to promote development of the system.This article is mainly divided into four parts:The first part is about the overview of the institution.This part clarifies the relevant concepts and explains the functions of the system,for example,defining the scope of investigators who appear in court,distinguishing the three confused concepts about appearing in court to testify,appearing in court to explain the situation and explanatory materials.In addition,the part points out the great significance of this system to judicial practice: it is beneficial to realize the mutual cooperation and restriction between different agencies,to implement the rules to exclude illegal evidence,to improve the standardization of collection evidence and to realize the unification of "three effects".The second part is about the jurisprudential basis of the institution.Focusing on the homogeneity of investigation power and investigation power in duty crimes,the theory of dual procedure and unitary evidence,the Principle of Directness and Verbalism and the equilibrium between prosecution and defense,analyzing the underlying logic and intrinsic value pursuit of the system.The third part focus on the present situation and existing problems of the institution.Collecting the relevant judgments via searching China Judicial Documents Network and useful data via questionnaires,this data reflects the practical problems of the extremely low rate of supervisory investigators appearing in court and the general fear in their heart.Summarizing the reasons about the problems,there are unclarity of the identity about the investigators appearing in court,ambiguity of the suitable situation and connection between different procedures,deficiency of the supporting mechanism,investigators cannot be compelled to appear in court,the unclear punishment of refusing to appear in court,and so on.The fourth part is focus on the proposals to consummate the institution.Based on the practical problems,the suggestions are put forward from four perspectives: firstly,clarifying the identity of investigators who appear in court as procedural witnesses,so as to urge them to bear the duty to testify;secondly,introducing principle of necessity and the necessary court appearance rate,to clear the necessary situation to testify and set up a more precise evaluation indicator;thirdly,refining the procedural connection between the court and the supervisory commission,limiting the application of refusal to appear in court and clarify the negative consequences;at last,consummating the supporting guarantee mechanism,reducing fear of difficulty of the investigators and arousing their initiative for court appearance.