중국 개정 형사소송법에서의 증인제도

Abstract

The criminal procedure law of China underwent a drastic revision in 2012. The revision was made in wide-ranging area covered by criminal procedure law, and particularly, the witness testimony system was also revised extensively and thereby made significant advancement.＊Professor, Department of Police Administration in Hannam University, Ph. D. in Law. The court appearance and testimony by witness in criminal procedure are vital for ensuring the fairness and rationality of criminal trial. However, the ratio of witnesses who appear in court for testimony in judicial institutes or criminal justice institutes comprised extremely low proportion in China, which resulted in many problems and increased the need for an improvement. This latest revision of criminal procedure law in China paved the way for significant improvement of witness system. Specifically, the testimony of witness was mandatory even in the pre-revision period. The latest revision makes it mandatory for witness to appear in court for the first time, thereby introducing a system for compulsory arrest of witness who fails to respond to the summons of the court without any legitimate reason. Furthermore, the latest revision imposed obligation on public security agencies, prosecution organizations, and court to protect witnesses, so that the witnesses and their families, etc., can be protected by government. Additionally, the latest revision stipulates that the expenses incurred by witnesses from the testimony in court should be reimbursed and that witnesses should not face disadvantages at workplaces, such as discrimination in welfare benefits, etc., for reason of testimony. Such drastic revision has laid foundation for the elimination of problems inherent in China's witness system and ground-breaking advancement of the system. Meanwhile, this study examined China's witness system to identify the area requiring the improvement in the period ahead through comparison with Korea's witness system, and looked into aspects of the witness system under the revised criminal procedure law of China which can be referred to for Korea's witness system.