Minister of Justice Mr. Abdellatif Wahbi affirmed that the drafting of Bill No. 03.23 amending and supplementing Law No. 22.01 on Criminal Procedure was based on modern and advanced concepts that address current challenges and are consistent with a set of fundamental principles considered to be the guiding pillars of national criminal policy, foremost among which are the Kingdom’s 2011 Constitution and international conventions related to human rights and the fight against crime, as well as a series of His Majesty the King’s royal speeches that have defined the philosophy and major pillars of reforming our country’s justice system, particularly with regard to the broad orientations of criminal policy, notably in His Majesty’s royal speech dated August 20, 2009, on the occasion of the fifty-sixth anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People.
During his presentation to the House of Representatives’ Committee on Justice, Legislation, Human Rights, and Freedoms on Wednesday, January 21, 2025, the minister emphasized that the provisions of the draft law will contribute to strengthening the field of rights and freedoms and ensuring their full alignment with international obligations regarding human rights and the fight against crime, and in striking a balance between the severity of crime and its threat to human security and the safety of citizens—both in person and in their property—on the one hand, and the protection of individuals’ fundamental rights as enshrined in international human rights conventions and the Kingdom’s Constitution on the other.
The minister explained that this project is part of a comprehensive reform initiative for the Moroccan criminal justice system, which began with significant legislative reforms recently enacted in our country, including the adoption of a series of laws structuring criminal policy, such as the law governing forensic medicine, the law on alternative sanctions, and the law on the organization and management of correctional facilities, and the establishment of a regulatory framework for the care of persons in police custody and detained juveniles, pending the enactment of the remaining accompanying legislative projects that have been finalized, such as the draft revision of the Penal Code, the draft law establishing the National Agency for the Management and Collection of Seized and Confiscated Property and Fines, the draft law establishing the National DNA Bank, the draft law on the National Agency for Child Protection, as well as the draft Code of Judicial Costs and other legislative proposals related to the criminal justice system.
The minister emphasized the need to modernize the legal system, particularly with regard to business and investment, and to ensure fair trial conditions, noting that this requires a new criminal policy approach based on reviewing and adapting criminal law and procedure to keep pace with developments, including the establishment of a national crime observatory, in coordination with the ongoing rehabilitation of correctional and prison facilities.
At the same time, he emphasized the importance of developing alternative dispute resolution methods, such as mediation, arbitration, and conciliation, adopting alternative sanctions, and re-examining community justice, noting a range of recommendations and proposals relevant to the justice sector—such as those of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, the National Charter on Justice System Reform, the National Human Rights Council, and civil society organizations working to protect and promote human rights and freedoms— as well as the proposals of the new development model aimed at establishing a justice system that protects rights and serves as a source of security, and the adoption of clear laws free from any ambiguity.
The minister stated that “the latest developments in our country’s justice system regarding the consolidation of judicial independence and the establishment of the Office of the Prosecutor General have been reviewed,” taking the opportunity to highlight the urgency of this project, which coincides with a series of national and international milestones and expectations.
According to the minister, the review was comprehensive, covering most of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as it involved more than 420 articles (amending and supplementing 286 articles, adding 106 articles, replacing and substituting 27 articles, and repealing 5 articles). It included a number of significant updates, in addition to refining the wording and terminology and ensuring consistency with other legal texts. These can be summarized under ten major headings; note that the explanatory memorandum for this draft law addressed all these updates in detail and can be consulted for further review.
The minister stated that the updates included strengthening and reinforcing fair trial guarantees by revising the regulations governing pretrial detention, rationalizing its use, and limiting its application to cases that strictly comply with the criteria specified in the draft law, along with the introduction of an audio-visual recording mechanism to be activated when the suspect’s statements included in the record are read aloud, and at the moment of their signature, fingerprinting, or refusal, to be applied in criminal cases and misdemeanors punishable by more than five years’ imprisonment, and safeguarding the dignity and inviolability of detained persons, in addition to a series of important developments aimed at rationalizing pretrial detention as an exceptional measure, by establishing legal controls for it, implementing it in accordance with more precise standards, and reducing its duration while providing justification for decisions regarding it.
The minister also addressed recent developments regarding the strengthening of the right to defense—a fundamental right in a fair trial—by granting the right to contact a lawyer from the very first hour of a suspect’s detention, while stipulating the possibility of a lawyer’s presence during the questioning of minors or persons with disabilities as referred to in Article 316 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by judicial police officers, following authorization from the competent public prosecutor’s office, as well as strengthening the lawyer’s presence in summary proceedings.
Among the developments mentioned by the minister are ensuring the effectiveness of criminal justice mechanisms and modernizing them by expanding the scope of offenses eligible for mediation, providing for criminal mediation, and regulating direct complaints with precision in terms of defining the offenses eligible for this procedure and the other associated formalities, as well as establishing new provisions aimed at empowering the Public Prosecutor’s Office to conduct preliminary investigations to verify the validity of a complaint or an anonymous tip before initiating an investigation into it, and creating a mechanism for processing criminal case files known as the “case preparer.” which allows a trial judge, in cases involving felonies, to prepare the case files prior to the commencement of trial proceedings.
The minister outlined new mechanisms to prevent torture in line with international obligations regarding the fight against torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, by explicitly requiring the judicial police and the public prosecutor’s office to conduct a medical examination of a suspect if he or she exhibits symptoms, signs, or traces ofwarrant such a procedure, as well as requiring the King’s Attorney General or one of his deputies to visit places of detention if reports of arbitrary arrest or abusive conduct are received, in addition to stipulating that extradition shall not be granted if there are serious grounds to believe that the extradition request was made with the intent to subject a person to torture.
The minister also emphasized the development of mechanisms to combat crime and strengthen international cooperation; the care and protection of victims throughout all stages of criminal proceedings, along with the establishment of legal frameworks governing criminal policy; and the strengthening of measures aimed at protecting juveniles, in accordance with the provisions of the Kingdom’s Constitution and relevant international conventions.
Khadija Al-Rahali
