Chapter X Crimes of Servicemen's Transgression of Duties

Article 420 Any act committed by a serviceman in transgression of his duties, an act that endangers the military interests of the State and should therefore be subjected to criminal punishment in accordance with law, constitutes a crime of a serviceman's transgression of duties.

Article 421 Any serviceman who disobeys an order during wartime, thereby jeopardizing a military operation, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years; if heavy losses are caused to a battle or campaign, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death.

Article 422 Any serviceman who intentionally conceals or makes a false report about the military situation, refuses to convey a military order or conveys a false military order, thereby jeopardizing a military operation, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years; if heavy losses are caused to a battle or campaign, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death.

Article 423 Any serviceman who cares for nothing but saving his skin on the battlefield voluntarily lays down his arms and surrenders to the enemy shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment.

Any serviceman who, after surrendering to the enemy, works for the enemy shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death.

Article 424 Any serviceman who deserts from the battlefield shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years; if heavy losses are caused to a battle or campaign, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death.

Article 425 Any person in command or on duty who leaves his post without permission or neglects his duties, thereby causing serious consequences, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention; if the consequences are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.

Whoever in wartime commits the crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years.

Article 426 Whoever, by violence or threat, obstructs a commander or a person on duty from performing his duties shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years; if serious injury or death is caused to a person or if there are other especially serious circumstances involved, he shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or death. The punishment for such a crime committed during wartime shall be heavier than in peacetime.

Article 427 Any officer who abuses his power and instigates his subordinates to act in transgression of their duties, thereby causing serious consequences, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years.

Article 428 Any commander who disobeys an order, or flinches before a battle or is inactive in a military operation, thereby causing serious consequences, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years; if heavy losses are caused to a battle or campaign or if there are other especially serious circumstances involved, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years.

Article 429 Any commander on a battlefield who is in a position to rescue the neighbourly forces he knows are in a critical situation but does not do so upon request, thus causing heavy losses to the latter, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years.

Article 430 Any serviceman who, in performing his duties, leaves his post without permission or defects from China or does so when being outside of the country, thus jeopardizing the military interests of the State, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years.

Any serviceman who, piloting an aircraft or a vessel, defects, or if there are other especially serious circumstances involved, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death.

Article 431 Whoever, by means of stealing, spying or buying, illegally obtains military secrets shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years.

Whoever steals, spies into or buys military secrets for or illegally offers such secrets to the agencies, organizations or individuals outside the territory of China shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death.

Article 432 Whoever, in violation of the law and regulations on protection of State secrets, intentionally or negligently divulges military secrets, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years.

Whoever during wartime commits the crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment.

Article 433 Whoever during wartime fabricates rumors to mislead others and shake the morale of troops shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years.

Whoever colludes with the enemy to fabricate rumors so as to mislead others and shake the morale of troops shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment; if the circumstances are especially serious, he may be sentenced to death.

Article 434 Whoever during wartime injures himself in order to evade his military obligation shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.

Article 435 Whoever, in violation of the military service law, deserts from the armed forces, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention.

Whoever during wartime commits the crime mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.

Article 436 Whoever violates the regulations on the use of weapons and equipment, if the circumstances are serious and an accident leading to serious injury or death of another person occurs due to his neglect of duty, or if there are other serious consequences, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention; if the consequences are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.

Article 437 Whoever in violation of the regulations on control of weapons and equipment, alters without authorization the use of weapons and equipment allocated, if the consequences are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention; if the consequences are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.

Article 438 Whoever steals or forcibly seizes weapons, equipment or military supplies shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death.

Whoever steals or forcibly seizes firearms, ammunition or explosives shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of Article 127 of this Law.

Article 439 Whoever illegally sells or transfers weapons or equipment of the armed forces shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years; if a large amount of weapons or equipment is sold or transferred or if there are other especially serious circumstances involved, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death.

Article 440 Whoever, in violation of an order, abandons weapons or equipment shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; if he abandons important or a large amount of weapons or equipment or if there are other serious circumstances involved, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years.

Article 441 Whoever loses weapons or equipment and fails to report the matter immediately, or if there are other serious circumstances involved, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention.

Article 442 Where the real estate of the armed forces is sold or transferred in violation of the regulations, if the circumstances are serious, the persons who are directly responsible for the offence shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention; if the circumstances are especially serious, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than 10 years.

Article 443 Any person who abuses his power and maltreats a subordinate, if the circumstances are so flagrant that the victim is seriously injured or if there are other serious consequences, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; if he causes death of the victim, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years.

Article 444 Where a wounded or sick serviceman is deliberately abandoned on a battlefield, if the circumstances are flagrant, the persons who are directly responsible for the offence shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years.

Article 445 Whoever, being charged with the duty of saving and treating servicemen during wartime, refuses to do so to a serviceman who, though critically sick or wounded, can be saved or treated, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention; if he causes serious disability or death of the sick or wounded serviceman or if there are other serious circumstances involved, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years.

Article 446 Any serviceman who, during wartime, cruelly injures innocent residents in an area of military operation or plunders their money or property shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years; if the circumstances are serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than 10 years; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years, life imprisonment or death.

Article 447 Whoever sets free a prisoner of war without authorization shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years; if he, without authorization, sets free an important prisoner of war or a number of prisoners of war or if there are other serious circumstances involved, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years.

Article 448 Whoever maltreats a prisoner of war, if the circumstances are flagrant, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years.

Article 449 If during wartime a serviceman is sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years for a crime he commits and is granted suspension of sentence because he presents no real danger , he may be allowed to atone for his crime by performing meritorious deeds. If he truly performs meritorious deeds, the original sentence may be rescinded and he shall not be regarded as a criminal.

Article 450 This Chapter shall apply to officers, civilian staff, soldiers in active service and cadets with military status of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, police officers, civilian staff and soldiers in active service and cadets with military status of the Chinese People's Armed Police, and reservists and other persons performing military tasks.

Article 451 The word "wartime" as used in this Law means the time when the State declares the state of war, the armed forces receive tasks of operations or when the enemy launches a surprise attack.

The time when the armed forces execute martial-law tasks or cope with emergencies of violence shall be regarded as wartime.

Supplementary Provisions

Article 452 This Law shall go into effect as of October 1, 1997.

The regulations, supplementary provisions and decisions enacted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, as listed in Appendix I of this Law, which have been incorporated into this Law or are no longer applicable, shall be invalidated as of the date this Law goes into effect.

The supplementary provisions and decisions enacted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, as listed in Appendix II of this Law, shall be retained. Among them the provisions on administrative penalty and administrative measures shall remain in force; however, since the provisions on criminal responsibility have been incorporated into this Law, the relevant provisions of this Law shall prevail as of the date this Law goes into effect.