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(Original title: The Qinghai High Court legally designated the People's Court of Ledu District, Haidong City, Qinghai Province to try 12 people including Suo Mou who were charged with the crime of provoking disturbances)

On July 22, the Higher People's Court of Qinghai Province issued an announcement that in order to ensure judicial fairness, in accordance with relevant legal provisions, the Tianjun County People's Court of Qinghai Province heard a case in which the Tianjun County People's Procuratorate accused the defendants Suo Mou and twelve others of committing the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. On July 22, 2024, the Higher People's Court of Qinghai Province made a decision on designated jurisdiction, and legally designated the Ledong District People's Court of Haidong City, Qinghai Province to try the case in accordance with the criminal first-instance procedure.

The picture shows the announcement issued by the Qinghai Provincial High Court

Earlier, a netizen broke the news that on May 11, the People's Court of Tianjun County, Qinghai Province, opened a hearing for a retrial of a case of provoking disturbances. The defense lawyers of the case said that when they passed by the trial bench after the recess, they found that the original second-instance judge of the case, the president of the Criminal Court of the Intermediate Court of Haixi Prefecture, and the president of the People's Court of Tianjun County were suspected of "remotely controlling" the trial in real time in the WeChat group.

On May 13, the Intermediate People's Court of Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province issued a report on "Online public opinion related to the case of Suo Mou and twelve others suspected of provoking disturbances", stating that after verification, the defense lawyer did not abide by court discipline during the court recess, entered the trial area without authorization and used his mobile phone to take pictures of the personal WeChat interface logged in on the computer screen of the collegial panel members, did not listen to the court staff's stop, and pushed the court staff down, seriously disrupting the normal work order of the people's court. This case is one of the "four types of cases" that are subject to key supervision. It is in compliance with regulations for the Intermediate People's Court of Haixi Prefecture to send personnel to guide the trial work of the lower people's courts, but there are situations where the supervision measures are not standardized in the specific supervision and management work.

Event Review

The trial was "remotely controlled" by the superior judge, and the evidence was on the bench

On May 11, a criminal case was heard in public at the Tianjun County Court in Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (hereinafter referred to as Haixi Prefecture) in Qinghai Province.During the trial, the presiding judge suddenly announced a recess. After the collegial panel left the court, the defense attorney accidentally discovered evidence that a judge from a higher court had "guided" the presiding judge in opening the court session via WeChat chat. He then called the police on the spot, alleging that the collegial trial had been illegally interfered with.

Beijing Youth Daily once learned that the Tianjun County Public Security Bureau had accepted the report.The office of the Higher People's Court of Qinghai Province stated that the provincial high court has learned the relevant information, and the investigation team led by the Haixi Prefecture Political and Legal Committee is also verifying the relevant situation, and the results will be announced to the public.

The presiding judge suddenly adjourned the court

On May 11, 2024, the criminal courtroom of Qinghai Tianjun County Court, which can accommodate 50 people at the same time, was full. The court was hearing a case in which 12 people were accused of provoking disturbances.

The verdict shows that the 12 people were detained in mid-November 2020, arrested in mid-December, and prosecuted in May 2021. In November 2021, all 12 people were sentenced by the Tianjun County Court for the crime of provoking disturbances, and were sentenced to 4 years and 6 months to 9 months.

In 2023, the judgment of Tianjun County Court was revoked by the higher court. The Intermediate People's Court of Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province sent the case back to Tianjun County Court for retrial. The trial on May 11, 2024 was the second day of the retrial.

According to multiple defense lawyers, the collegial panel had held at least three pre-trial meetings with defense lawyers before the retrial. The defense lawyers raised issues such as exclusion of illegal evidence, recusation, witness appearance, evidence collection, and re-identification, but none of them received clear responses at the pre-trial meetings.

On the second day of the retrial, the defense was giving their recusation opinions against the presiding judge. Because the accuracy of the translator's translation was questioned, the defense applied to allow the translator hired by the defendant to enter the court to assist in translation, but was not approved.

Afterwards, the defense requested that all members of the collegial panel recuse themselves on the grounds that "the presiding judge was not competent to conduct a public trial." The presiding judge insisted on verifying the identities of the parties first, and the defense insisted on applying for recusation. At this time, the gavel suddenly fell, and the presiding judge announced a recess.

Several audience members told In-depth that after the presiding judge announced the adjournment, the presiding judge, judges, and people's jurors immediately left through the dedicated passage, and other people began to pack up their belongings and prepare to leave.

A defense lawyer accidentally discovered that the judge logged into WeChat on the computer in the courtroom, and the judge of the higher court "guided" the presiding judge in the court to speak in the WeChat group.

“Real-time guidance” in WeChat groups

The reporter learned that the trial on the afternoon of May 11 officially began at 3 pm and the recess time was around 4:20 pm.

A defense lawyer told Deep Dive that before the retrial, he had requested to review the original paper files because some of the electronic files were unclear. At that time, the collegial panel did not resolve this issue. After the recess, when the presiding judge was leaving, he caught up with the presiding judge to ask about the paper files. The presiding judge replied that he should find a clerk.

The defense attorney said that after he asked the presiding judge, he passed by the presiding judge's seat and inadvertently saw WeChat logged in on the monitor of the computer above, with a group chat dialogue window interface displayed, and the computer was connected to the external network.

The defense attorney looked at the content of the group chat and found that the content was "The President of the Criminal Court of the Superior Court and the President of Tianjun County Court instructed the presiding judge on how to conduct the trial through the WeChat group." Among them, a text sent by the judge of the superior court in the group was exactly what the presiding judge said in court.

He used his mobile phone to take photos of part of the group chat and shouted to the prosecutor who was about to leave, asking the prosecutor who appeared in court to fulfill his legal supervision duties. The prosecutor did not respond and left immediately.

Several people present said that when the defense lawyer was taking pictures of the monitor, the prosecutor told the bailiff that "the lawyer was taking pictures of the judge's computer," and the bailiffs immediately surrounded the bench. At the same time, other defense lawyers also surrounded the bench and took out their mobile phones to take pictures.

Then, the area around the courtroom fell into chaos, and the monitor on the courtroom was knocked over. The audience saw a female clerk unplug the power cord of the computer.

Many defense lawyers asked the bailiffs to protect the scene. Some defense lawyers called the Supervisory Commission to report the situation, and some called the police.

At around 4:40 p.m., the deputy director of the Tianjun County Public Security Bureau led a team of police officers to the scene to take photos, seal up, and retrieve the computer host on the bench. The defense lawyer who called the police went to the Public Security Bureau to make a report.

The police arrived and sealed the evidence at the scene 

Court adjourned after investigation team was established

Multiple photos of the trial scene showed that the computer monitor taken by the defense attorney was located between the seats of the presiding judge and the judges.

According to the photos on the monitor screen, there are 7 members in the WeChat group. The WeChat user logged in on the computer is the judge Dawaji. It is reported that Dawaji is the presiding judge of the case tried by Tianjun County Court. Nan Kuajiancan is the vice president of Tianjun County Court and the presiding judge of the case. He is also in the WeChat group.

Also in the group are Fan Xuhua, President of Tianjun County Court, Shi Gang, Director of the General Office of Tianjun County Court, and Li Jiadong, Director of the General Office.

Hasi Chaolu is also in the group. He is a member of the trial committee of Haixi Prefecture Intermediate People's Court, the superior court of Tianjun County Court. He is also the president of the criminal trial court and the original presiding judge of the second instance of the case he tried.

The content of the group chat shows that Haschaolu sent a message in the group: "The presiding judge now says that it is only to verify the identity and litigation rights, and the collegial panel also believes that the translator can perform his duties well. Please respect the court's decision and obey the court's arrangements."

Several defense attorneys said that before the adjournment, when they raised the issue of translation accuracy, the presiding judge said these words in court.

The group chat also showed that Hasi Chaolu had sent messages such as "interrupt" and "be tough and don't speak casually" in the group. Several defense lawyers said that there was no sign before the presiding judge announced the adjournment. They believed that the sudden adjournment was related to the "real-time remote guidance" of the leader in the group chat.

In accordance with my country's Constitution and Criminal Procedure Law, the people's courts exercise judicial power independently in accordance with the law, and the trial of cases adopts a two-instance final judgment system. The way in which the higher courts supervise the lower courts does not include "real-time remote control guidance of trials."

The defense believes that the actions of Tianjun County Court and its superior courts have undermined my country's two-instance final judgment system.

Deepin contacted the Tianjun County Court once, and the political department staff said that they needed to consult the leadership before replying. As of press time, no response was received.

On May 13, the Political Department of the Haixi Prefecture Intermediate People's Court stated that it had learned of the situation and that the research office would be responsible for handling it, which is currently being processed.

The office of the Higher People's Court of Qinghai Province stated that the Higher Court has learned of the relevant information, and the investigation team led by the Haixi Prefecture Political and Legal Committee is verifying the relevant circumstances and the results will be announced to the public.

According to Article 20 of the Organic Law of the People's Procuratorate of my country, the People's Procuratorate exercises legal supervision over litigation activities. Specific matters of supervision include: whether the court trial violates the legal procedures, whether the litigation rights of the parties and other litigation participants are infringed, and whether the judges have engaged in favoritism, fraud and other illegal acts in the trial activities.

Regarding this situation, a reporter from Deep Dive called Li Jihui, deputy chief prosecutor of Tianjun County Procuratorate, but no one answered the phone. When the incident happened, prosecutors Zhabai and Li Jihui of Tianjun County Procuratorate were both present, but Zhabai did not answer the phone.

It is reported that according to the trial arrangement, the case was originally scheduled to continue on May 13. However, at 1 a.m. on May 13, the Tianjun County Court notified that the case would be "temporarily adjourned."