Question raising

Company A filed a criminal accusation with the public security organs on the grounds that its employees were suspected of embezzlement, and the public security organs filed the case after examination. However, during the investigation stage of the case, the employee actively negotiated with Company A to return the compensation, and both parties reached a compensation agreement, agreeing that Company A would apply to the public security organs to withdraw the case after the employee returned the compensation. Can Company A apply to the public security organs to revoke the criminal case in this case?

Lawyer Interpretation

Under the framework of China's Criminal Procedure Law, criminal cases include public prosecution cases and private prosecution cases. Public prosecution cases refer to cases initiated by procuratorial organs at all levels in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, representing the state to pursue the criminal responsibility of defendants. A private prosecution case is the symmetry of a public prosecution case, as the name suggests, a case initiated by a private prosecutor, including (1) cases that are only dealt with after being informed, such as cases of insult, defamation, violent interference in marital freedom, abuse, and embezzlement; (2) Minor criminal cases where the People's Procuratorate has not initiated public prosecution and the victim has evidence to prove, such as cases of intentional injury, illegal intrusion into a residence, infringement of communication freedom, infringement of intellectual property rights, etc; (3) In cases where the victim has evidence to prove that they should be held criminally responsible for the defendant's infringement of their personal and property rights in accordance with the law, and there is evidence to prove that a complaint has been made, but the public security organs or people's procuratorates do not hold the defendant criminally responsible. In a private prosecution case, the private prosecutor may reconcile with the defendant or withdraw the private prosecution before announcing the judgment.

Public prosecution cases generally have three stages after filing: investigation, review and prosecution, and trial. However, only in the investigation stage, there is withdrawal of the case. In the review and prosecution stage, there is only relative non prosecution and absolute non prosecution. In the trial stage, if the suspect wants not to be sentenced to punishment, he can only obtain an innocent verdict or be exempt from criminal punishment. In the investigation stage of public prosecution cases, if the public security organs discover the following situations, they should revoke the case: (1) if there are no criminal facts; (2) If the circumstances are significantly minor and the harm is not significant, it is not considered a crime; (3) If the crime has exceeded the statute of limitations for prosecution; (4) Exempted from punishment by special amnesty order; (5) The suspect dies; (6) Other cases where criminal responsibility is not pursued in accordance with the law. If it is necessary to cancel the case or terminate the investigation of the suspect, the case handling department shall prepare a report on the cancellation of the case or the termination of the investigation and submit it to the person in charge of the public security organ at or above the county level for approval. It can be seen that in the investigation stage of public prosecution cases, the revocation of cases requires a statutory revocation situation, and the revocation subject is the investigation department. Only through statutory procedures can the public prosecution case be revoked.

In summary, the private prosecutor of a private prosecution case may withdraw the private prosecution before the judgment of the case is declared. The withdrawal of a public prosecution case during the investigation stage needs to meet the legal subject, circumstances, and procedures before it can be revoked. After the criminal case is filed, the case is handled by the public security organs, and the accuser is no longer able to apply for revocation.

However, during the period from the receipt of the case by the public security organs to the filing of the case, the accuser can still withdraw the accusation application from the public security organs. The accused should actively return the stolen goods and compensation and strive to reach a settlement with the accuser.