Chapter XXXI: REOPENING PROCEDURES
Article 290.- Nature of reopening procedures
Reopening procedures shall be applied to legally valid judgments or decisions which are protested against due to newly discovered new circumstances which may substantially change the contents of such judgments or decisions but were unknown to the courts when they issued such judgments or decisions.
Article 291.- Grounds to protest according to reopening procedures
Circumstances to be used as grounds to protest according to reopening procedures include:
1. Statements of witnesses, expertise conclusions, oral interpretations of interpreters contain important contents discovered to be untruthful;
2. Investigators, procurators, judges or jurors made incorrect conclusions, thus leading to the wrong trial of the cases;
3. Exhibits, investigation records, records of other proceedings or other documents in the cases are forged or not truthful;
4. Other circumstances which have rendered the settlement of the cases untruthful.
Article 292.- Notification and verification of newly discovered circumstances
1. The convicts, agencies, organizations and all citizens shall have the right to discover new circumstances of the cases and report them to the procuracies or courts. The chairmen of the procuracies competent to protest according to reopening procedures shall issue decisions to verify such circumstances.
2. If there exists one of the grounds prescribed in Article 291 of this Code, the chairmen of the procuracies shall issue decisions to protest according to reopening procedures and transfer the case files to the competent courts. If none of such grounds exists, the chairmen of the procuracies shall reply the discovering agencies, organizations or persons, clearly stating the reasons for not lodging protests.
Article 293.- Persons with the right to protest according to reopening procedures
1. The Chairman of the Supreme People’s Procuracy shall have the right to protest according to reopening procedures against legally valid judgments or decisions of courts of different levels, except for decisions of the Judges’ Council of the Supreme People’s Court.
2. The Chairman of the Central Military Procuracy shall have the right to protest according to reopening procedures against legally valid judgments or decisions of subordinate military courts.
3. The chairmen of the provincial-level people’s procuracies shall have the right to protest according to reopening procedures against legally valid judgments or decisions of the district-level people’s courts. The chairmen of the military zone-level military procuracies shall have the right to protest according to reopening procedures against legally valid judgments or decisions of the regional military courts.
4. Written protests of the persons prescribed in this Article must be sent to the convicts and persons with interests and obligations related to the protests.
Article 294.- Suspension of execution of judgments or decisions which are protested against according to reopening procedures
Those who have lodged protests according to reopening procedures shall have the right to suspend the execution of the protested judgments or decisions.
Article 295.- Time limit for lodging protests according to reopening procedures
1. Review according to reopening procedures unfavorable to the convicts must be conducted within the statute of limitations for penal liability examination prescribed in Article 23 of the Penal Code and the time limit for lodging such protests shall not exceed one year after the date the procuracies receive information on newly discovered circumstances.
2. Review according to reopening procedures favorable to the convicts shall not be restricted temporally and shall be conducted even in the cases where the convicts are deceased and it is necessary to prove their innocence.
3. Civil protests in criminal cases against civil plaintiffs, civil defendants or persons with interests and obligations related to the cases shall be lodged in accordance with the provisions of civil procedure legislation.
Article 296.- Jurisdiction to review cases according to reopening procedures
1. The Judges’ Committees of the provincial-level people’s courts shall review according to reopening procedures legally valid judgements or decisions of the district-level people’s courts. The Judges’ Committees of the military zone-level military courts shall review according to reopening procedures legally valid judgements or decisions of the regional military courts.
2. The Criminal Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court shall review according to reopening procedures legally valid judgments or decisions of the provincial-level people’s courts. The Central Military Court shall review according to reopening procedures legally valid judgements or decisions of the military zone-level military courts.
3. The Judges’ Council of the Supreme People’s Court shall review according to reopening procedures legally valid judgements or decisions of the Central Military Court, of the Criminal Tribunal or the court of appeal of the Supreme People’s Court.
Article 297.- Conducting of reopening procedures
The provisions of Articles 280, 281, 282 and 283 of this Code shall also apply to the reopening procedures.
Article 298.- Jurisdiction of reopening procedure panels
The reopening procedure panels shall have the right to issue decisions:
1. To reject the protests and retain the legally valid judgments or decisions;
2. To dismiss the protested judgments or decisions for re-investigation or re-trial.
3. To dismiss the protested judgments or decisions and cease the cases;
Article 299.- Effect of reopening procedure decisions and handing of reopening procedure decisions
1. Decisions of the reopening procedure panels shall take legal effect as from the date of their issuance.
2. Within ten days after issuing the reopening procedure decisions, the reopening procedure panels must send them to the convicts, protestors, courts and police agencies which have been involved in the first-instance trial, persons with interests and obligations related to the protests or their lawful representatives, and competent judgment-executing agencies; and send notices thereon to the administrations of the communes, wards or townships where the convicts reside or the agencies or organizations where the convicts work.
Article 300.- Re-investigation, re-trial of cases
1. If the reopening procedure panels decide to dismiss legally valid judgments or decisions for re-investigation, within fifteen days as from the date of issuance of such decisions, the case files must be transferred to the competent procuracies for re-investigation according to general procedures.
2. If the reopening procedure panels decide to dismiss legally valid judgments or decisions for first-instance re-trial of the cases, within fifteen days as from the date of issuance of such decisions, the case files must be transferred to the competent courts for re-trial according to general procedures.
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Bộ luật Tố tụng Hình sự 2003 (Bản Word)