Chapter Ⅲ Case Handling

Article 22 The handling of cases of organized crime shall use facts as the basis, take the law as the criterion and apply the principle of tempering justice with mercy.

For organizers, leaders and key members of organized crime, the legal conditions shall be strictly complied with for granting bail, non-prosecution, probation, commutation, parole, or temporary serving of a sentence outside prison, and criminal punishment such as deprivation of political rights, confiscation of property, and fines shall be sternly meted out.

Suspects or defendants of organized crime who confess voluntarily and truthfully, admit the facts of the crime with which they are charged, and are willing to accept punishment, may be subjected to lenient treatment in accordance with the law.

Article 23 A crime committed via the internet and falls within the provisions of Article 2 of this Law shall be recognized as organized crime.

Activities, such as systematically harassing or pestering others, creating disturbances, or holding gatherings, may be considered as the means of perpetrating organized crime if they are carried out in order to obtain illegal profit or exert illegal influence, which impose psychological coercion against others, to the extent that the personal freedom of others is restricted, the personal and property safety is endangered, or the social or economic order is affected.

Article 24 Public security organs shall employ modern information technology in accordance with the law to establish mechanisms for collecting and assessing clues to organized crime, to handle the clues in a graded and classified way.

Upon receiving reports, accusations or information about organized crime, public security organs shall promptly conduct calculations, analysis, and assessment, or organize verification, or transfer them to competent organs for handling in accordance with the law.

Article 25 Where relevant state organs discover clues to or receive reports of organized crime while performing their duties, they shall transfer such clues to public security organs or other competent organs for handling in accordance with the law.

Article 26 Public security organs may adopt investigative measures in accordance with relevant state regulations when verifying clues to organized crime. Any relevant entity and individual shall provide information and materials truthfully as required by public security organs.

Article 27 A public security organ at or above the county level may, upon the approval of the relevant member of its leading group, inquire into a suspect's deposits, remittance, bonds, stocks, fund shares and other property information when verifying clues to organized crime.

If, when verifying clues to a crime committed by an organization of the gang nature, a public security organ finds an imminent risk of destruction or transfer of property involved in the case, emergency measures such as emergency payment suspension, temporary freezing or temporary seizure may be applied upon the approval of the the relevant member of its leading group of the public security organ at or above the level of city divided into districts, and the emergency measures applied shall last no more than 48 hours. Once the time limit expires or the circumstances for applying emergency measures disappear, said emergency measures shall be terminated immediately.

Article 28 Where public security organs verify clues to organized crime and discover criminal facts or suspects, they shall file cases for investigation in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law of People's Republic of China.

Article 29 When handling cases of organized crime, public security organs may decide to employ exit restrictions against criminal suspects in accordance with the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China, and notify the immigration control agencies for implementation.

Article 30 As required by handling cases or maintaining regulatory order, measures such as non-local custody, separated custody or solitary custody may be employed for criminal suspects or defendants in cases of organized crime. In cases where non-local custody is employed, family members and defenders of criminal suspects or defendants shall be notified in accordance with the law.

Article 31 After a case is filed and as necessary for the investigation, a public security organ may employ technical investigative measures, implement controlled delivery or conduct investigation by personnel without revealing their identity, in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law of People's Republic of China.

Article 32 Where criminal suspects or defendants report or expose joint offenders in major crimes, or provide key clues or evidence that helps solve major criminal cases, their cases may be handled separately from that of other offenders, as handling these cases together might endanger the personal safety of themselves or their close relatives.

Article 33 In any of the following circumstances, where criminal suspects or defendants actively cooperate with investigation, prosecution and trial of cases of organized crime, a lenient punishment may be given to them, but shall be given on strict conditions to organizers or leaders of organized crime:

(1) providing important clues or evidence for ascertaining the structure of such organizations, as well as the roles and functions of their organizers, leaders and ringleaders;

(2) providing important clues or evidence for ascertaining major crimes committed by criminal organizations;

(3) providing important clues or evidence for investigating organized crime in which state functionaries are involved;

(4) assisting in recovering or confiscating illicit money and goods which have not yet been discovered or obtained by relevant authorities; and

(5) other circumstances of providing important clues or evidence for the investigation and handling of organized crime.

Where criminal suspects or defendants of cases involving organized crime groups are spared from prosecution or exempted from criminal punishment, they may, according to the different circumstances of each case, be reprimanded or ordered to make a statement of repentance or formal apology, make compensation for losses or be subject to administrative penalties or sanctions by competent departments.

Article 34 The property of organizers and leaders of an organization of the gang nature shall be confiscated in accordance with the law. On other members of the organization, fines or confiscation of property may be additionally imposed in accordance with the law, according to their position and role in the organization and the factors such as the number and nature of criminal and other illegal activities in which they have participated in, the amount of illegal gains, and the harms inflicted.

Article 35 Executing organs shall strictly supervise criminals of organized crime in accordance with the law.

When organizers and leaders of an organization of the gang nature or ringleaders of a vicious organization are sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of more than 10 years, life imprisonment, or death penalty with a two-year reprieve, the sentence shall be executed non-locally in other provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the central government.

Article 36 When organizers and leaders of an organization of the gang nature or ringleaders of a vicious organization who have been sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of more than 10 years, life imprisonment, or death penalty with a two-year reprieve have their punishment commuted, the executing organs shall submit a commutation recommendation to the people’s courts for a ruling, following a review by the prison management organs in a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the central government.

The procedure prescribed in the preceding paragraph applies to the parole of organizers and leaders of an organization of the gang nature or ringleaders of a vicious organization.

Article 37 The people's courts shall notify the people's procuratorates and the executing organs to participate in the hearing of the cases regarding the commutation or parole of criminals of an organization of the gang nature, and notify the criminals who have been proposed for commutation or parole to appear in the hearing and present their opinions.

Article 38 When an executing organ submits a recommendation for commutation or parole and when the people's court hears the commutation or parole case, full consideration shall be given to the criminal's performance of property punishment in the effective judgment and cooperation with the disposition of property involved in the case, etc.

Chapter Ⅸ Identification and Disposition of Property Involved in a Case

Article 39 Property and documents discovered during handling cases of organized crime that may be used to prove a criminal suspect or defendant's guilt or innocence shall be sealed up or seized in accordance with the law.

Public security organs, the people's procuratorates and the people's courts may, in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China, inquire into or freeze a criminal suspect or defendant's deposits, remittances, bonds, stocks, fund shares and other property. Relevant entities and individuals shall provide cooperation.

Article 40 In accordance with the needs of handling cases of organized crime, public security organs, the people's procuratorates and the people's courts may fully investigate the property of an organization and its members suspected of organized crime.

Article 41 The sealing, seizure, freezing and disposition of property involved in a case shall be conducted in strict accordance with legally prescribed requirements and procedures. The lawful property rights and interests of citizens and organizations shall be protected in accordance with the law. A strict distinction shall be made between illegal gains and lawful property, and between a person's property and that of his family members. Negative impacts on an enterprise's normal business operations shall be reduced. Irrelevant property shall not be sealed up, seized or frozen. The property found to be irrelevant to the case after review shall be released from sealing, seizure or freezing within three days and returned. A victim's lawful property shall be returned in a timely manner.

Necessary living expenses and necessities shall be kept for a criminal suspect or defendant and the family members he supports when the property involved in the case is sealed, seized, or frozen.

Article 42 Public security organs may inquire about the information and data relating to organized crime of the administrative departments in charge of anti-money laundering, and request assistance in investigating suspicious transactions relating to organized crime. The administrative departments in charge of anti-money laundering shall cooperate and respond in a timely manner.

Article 43 Upon approval of the leading person of the public security organ, the people's procuratorate, or the people's court at or above the county level, the following sealed or seized property may be sold in advance, liquidated, or auctioned in accordance with the law, with the proceeds therefrom kept by the seizure or freezing organ and with criminal suspects, defendants or their close relatives informed in time:

(1) items that are easily damaged or lost, perishable, or otherwise unsuitable for long-term preservation;

(2) bills of exchange, promissory notes and checks that are about to expire; and

(3) property such as bonds, stocks, and fund shares, upon application by the rights holder(s), where the sale of which will not harm the interests of the state or the victim(s) and will not impact the normal progress of proceedings.

Article 44 Public security organs and the people's procuratorates shall review and examine property involved in cases. When transferring cases for prosecution review or initiating public prosecutions, opinions shall be submitted regarding the disposition of the property involved in the cases.

During the trial of cases of organized crime, court investigation and debate shall be conducted on the facts and evidence relating to the nature and ownership of the property involved in the cases. The people's courts shall make judgments in accordance with the law and dispose the property involved in the cases.

Article 45 The property illegally obtained by organized crime groups and their members, as well as the proceeds from said property, prohibited items, and the personal property used in the crime, shall be recovered or confiscated or have them restituted under an order in accordance with the law.

When property involved in a case that should be recovered or confiscated cannot be found, is lost, or is inseparably mixed with other lawful assets, other property of equal value or the equivalent part of the mixed assets may be recovered or confiscated.

For a defendant in a case of crime of the gang nature, his property obtained during the period the crime is committed, as well as the proceeds from the property shall be recovered or confiscated in accordance with the law, provided that the facts for conviction and sentencing of the defendant have been ascertained, that there is evidence showing a high probability that the property is obtained through the crime, and the defendant cannot demonstrate the lawful origin of the property.

Article 46 The property involved in a case that meets any of the following circumstances shall be recovered or confiscated in accordance with the law:

(1) the property provided to an organized crime group and its members to support or fund organized crime;

(2) the family property of a member of an organized crime group, which is actually used to support organized crime; and

(3) the property obtained through criminal and other illegal activities of an organized crime group and its members, as well as the proceeds from said property.

Article 47 When a suspect or defendant in a case related to crime of the gang nature flees and hides and cannot be brought to justice one year after a wanted bulletin was released or a criminal suspect or defendant is dead, and his illegal gains and other property involved in the case shall be recovered in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, the case shall be handled in accordance with the procedure provided in the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China for confiscating illegal gains involved in a case where the criminal suspect or defendant flees, hides or is dead.

Article 48 Where supervisory organs, public security organs, or the people's procuratorates discover money laundering activities related to organized crime, as well as other crimes such as the concealment of the illegal gains from such crimes or the proceeds from the illegal gains, they shall investigate these crimes in accordance with the law.

Article 49 When an interested party raises an objection to the sealing, seizure, freezing or disposition of property involved in a case, the relevant public security organ, the people's procuratorate or the people's court shall promptly verify the objection, hear the opinion of the interested party, and handle the issue in accordance with the law.

An interested party may raise complaints or accusations if not satisfied with the handling of property involved in a case by the public security organ, the people's procuratorate, or the people's court.