فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
The Moroccan Government Council adopted on Thursday Bill No. 03.23, which amends and supplements Law No. 22.01 relating to criminal procedure, taking into account the remarks raised.
Minister of Justice Abdellatif Ouahbi presented this bill, which aims to revise the Criminal Procedure Code more than twenty years after its promulgation. Mustapha Baitas, the Minister Delegate for Relations with Parliament and Government Spokesperson, explained in a press conference following the Council meeting that this project is part of the modernization of the national legal system, which is one of the most important axes for achieving the comprehensive reform project of the justice system in Morocco, which His Majesty the King has repeatedly emphasized.
The Minister added that this law also comes in the context of the significant progress made by the Kingdom in the field of human rights, particularly the adoption of the 2011 Constitution, the approval of a series of rights and freedoms, and the establishment of mechanisms to protect them and ensure their exercise.
Baitas pointed out that the draft revision of the Criminal Procedure Code was careful to strike a balance between protecting society from crime and safeguarding its security and stability on one hand, and protecting individual rights and freedoms on the other. He noted that this revision covered more than 420 articles.
The Minister highlighted that the bill includes a series of important innovations, including strengthening fair trial guarantees by rationalizing the use of police custody and considering it an exceptional measure, rationalizing pre-trial detention while defining its legal rules, strengthening defense rights, modernizing criminal justice mechanisms, combating crime with modern means, and protecting victims.
The project also includes innovations related to criminal policy, through the establishment of new regulations framing criminal policy as an integral part of the state’s public policies, defining it and setting its executive forms, protecting minors, simplifying appeal procedures, and transferring its prerogatives to strengthen the independence of the Public Prosecution.
Baitas added that the project also includes legal developments related to the execution of sentences, through expanding the powers of the sentence enforcement judge and motivating prisoners to maintain discipline through the sentence reduction system.
