Southern Weekend, 2009-06-24
The recent Deng Yuqiao case—in which Deng stabbed two Dandong County officials in alleged self-defense and was found guilty of using excessive force but exempted from criminal punishment—has forced Chinese legal scholars to consider the “fairness” of China's criminal procedure law. Many feel that the intense media attention on Deng's case helped protect her rights in ways that formal criminal procedure does not. For example, Deng's initial legal team from Beijing requested that police obtain physical evidence (Deng's undergarments) that might prove she was sexually assaulted, and local investigators fulfilled the request. The criminal procedural law, however, only allows defendant's counsel to make requests for evidence after the case has been sent to prosecutors, after the investigation phase. During the investigation phase, defendant's lawyers in effect only act as “legal helpers” and not genuine criminal defenders. Qinghua University professor Yi Yanyou feels that while substantial justice was delivered in the case, without procedural justice, there is little guarantee that substantial justice is available in the vast majority of cases where public scrutiny is absent.
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