Meeting on Bill No. 03.23 Regarding Amendments to Criminal Procedure Law

Today, Thursday, the majority groups in the House of Representatives held a study meeting focused on the latest updates of « Bill No. 03.23 amending and supplementing Law No. 22.01 concerning criminal procedure. »

Justice Minister Abdelatif Wahbi stated that the criminal procedure bill represents a « human endeavor, » emphasizing that the drafting of any legal text is not an individual or subjective decision but is part of the state’s legal and institutional framework. It requires oversight from the relevant authorities, both in terms of government sectors and institutions responsible for implementing its provisions.

Wahbi explained that any new legal text may face objections due to the differing interests and directions of the concerned stakeholders, which makes achieving full consensus difficult. He noted that this reality sometimes requires compromises to reach a balanced agreement that considers the various interests involved.

It is worth mentioning that Wahbi also discussed some provisions of the bill, particularly the introduction of an audiovisual recording mechanism during the reading of suspects’ statements included in the reports. This mechanism remains a subject of intense debate, particularly regarding its potential use in all stages of investigation, its validity as a legal means of evidence, and the technical challenges related to possible errors during the process.