China runs a four-level court system, and a normal case is finished after two hearings: the first-instance trial and one appeal. This is the two-instance final rule in Article 10 of the Criminal Procedure Law: once a case has been tried by two levels of court, the judgment becomes final.
The four levels
From the bottom up: Basic People’s Courts sit in counties and city districts; Intermediate People’s Courts sit at prefecture level; High People’s Courts sit in each province, autonomous region and municipality; and the Supreme People’s Court sits in Beijing. The higher the level, the fewer the cases. The Supreme People’s Court mainly hears appeals and retrial applications and rarely acts as a first-instance court.
Where does your case start?
Ordinary first-instance criminal cases start in a Basic People’s Court (Article 20). An Intermediate People’s Court hears a first-instance criminal case in only two situations (Article 21): crimes endangering national security or involving terrorist activities, and cases where the possible punishment is life imprisonment or death.
A common myth is that any case involving a foreigner must start in an Intermediate People’s Court. That rule existed in the 1996 Criminal Procedure Law but was removed when the law was amended in 2012. Today most foreign defendants are tried in a Basic People’s Court, exactly like anyone else.
Territorially, the case goes to the court for the place where the crime was committed; where that is not appropriate, it may go to the court for the defendant’s place of residence (Article 25).
Appeal and finality
After a first-instance judgment, the defendant may appeal and the procuratorate may protest, within ten days. The second-instance court reviews the case and may uphold the judgment, change it, or send the case back for retrial. Once the second instance is decided, the judgment is final. The only route left is extraordinary: a petition for retrial under the trial supervision procedure, brought by a party or by the procuratorate.
What this means in practice
Plan for two rounds of hearings, not one. An appeal is the last full review of both the facts and the law, so the quality of the first-instance defence record matters. For foreign defendants, Article 9 of the Criminal Procedure Law guarantees the right to use your own language and to be provided with interpretation, and consular notification is a separate entitlement.
A quick scenario
Hypothetical. A foreign engineer in Guangdong is charged with commercial fraud punishable by up to seven years. Because the maximum is below life imprisonment, the case starts in a Basic People’s Court. The panel convicts him. He then has ten days to appeal to the Intermediate People’s Court. If the intermediate court upholds the conviction, the judgment is final and the only remedy left is a retrial petition.
Common questions
Q: How many times can my case be heard?
A: Normally twice. Article 10 of the Criminal Procedure Law sets a two-instance final system, so the first-instance trial and one appeal conclude the case.
Q: Will my case be heard by a district court or a higher court?
A: Ordinary criminal cases start in a Basic People’s Court. Only national security or terrorism cases, and cases carrying life imprisonment or death, start in an Intermediate People’s Court.
Q: Does being a foreigner move my case to a higher court?
A: No. That rule was in the 1996 law and was deleted in 2012. Foreign defendants normally start in a Basic People’s Court.
Q: Where is the case filed if the crime spanned several places?
A: Jurisdiction follows the place where the crime was committed, or the defendant’s place of residence where that is more appropriate (Article 25).
Q: What if I lose the appeal?
A: The second-instance judgment is final. The remaining remedy is a retrial petition under the trial supervision procedure.
Wang Guan | Co-founder, Beijing Haolue Law Firm | +86 17813108512