Criminal Appeals Lawyers in China

A criminal appeal must begin with the procedural posture: whether the judgment or ruling is still open to an ordinary appeal or protest, already effective and potentially subject to trial supervision, or connected to a separate death-sentence review, enforcement, or property process. Counsel then needs the complete first-instance record, the precise relief sought, and issue-by-issue grounds rather than a general request to reconsider the outcome.

Questions that change the route

What decision was made and when was it received?

Record the court, case number, oral pronouncement, service date, judgment or ruling, custody and enforcement status, who may appeal, whether a procuratorate protest is involved, and every applicable filing or response deadline.

Which findings or procedures are challenged?

Separate offence classification, participation and intent, admissibility and reliability of evidence, excluded or uncollected evidence, burden and standard of proof, procedural violations, defence restrictions, sentencing facts, restitution, confiscation, and attached civil issues.

What can the second-instance court actually decide?

Frame requests for affirmance changes, retrial, acquittal, reclassification, sentence adjustment, evidentiary hearing, witness or expert appearance, investigation, property relief, and preservation of later complaint or retrial grounds.

Evidence to organize first

• Judgment and rulings, proof of service, hearing notices, appeal or protest documents, custody record, enforcement notices, and complete deadline chronology
• Indictment, defence submissions, hearing transcript and recordings, evidence list, exhibits, expert material, exclusion applications, objections, and first-instance reasoning
• Issue matrix linking each alleged factual, legal, evidentiary, procedural, sentencing, and property error to the record, requested remedy, and supporting authority

Official orientation sources: Criminal Procedure Law (2018 revision) · SPC interpretation of the Criminal Procedure Law. Source check: 6 October 2026.