对强制证人到庭例外规定的思考——评《刑事诉讼法》第188条第1款

2012年修改的《刑事诉讼法》第188条第一款规定＂经人民法院通知,证人没有正当理由不出庭作证的,人民法院可以强制其到庭,但是被告人的配偶、父母、子女除外。＂这一规定并未赋予特定亲属拒绝作证权。《刑事诉讼法》一方面要求被告人的上述亲属必须提供相关证言,同时又允许这些特定亲属拒绝出庭,实际上是以维护家庭关系之名,严重妨害了被告人的对质权,有必要以法治国家通行的亲属拒绝作证权取代强制证人到庭例外规定。

Refl ection on exceptions to compelling witnesses to appear before court. ——Comment on Article 188（1） of PRC Criminal Procedure Law

Article 188（1） of the 2012 amended PRC Criminal Procedure Law states that ＂where a witness, without good reasons, fails to appear before a court to give testimony, the court may compel the witness to appear, unless the witness is the spouse, parent or child of the defendant.＂ This rule does not grant those witnesses who are particular relatives of the defendant the right to refuse to testify; instead, those witnesses must give testimony during pretrial proceedings. However, they are allowed to not to appear before a court during trial. Such a rule might hamper the defendant＇s right of confrontation, and should be replaced by the relatives＇ privilege to refuse to testify.