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Law No. 25-14, bearing Code of Criminal Procedure, was published in the last issue of Official Journal N ° 54, and this text has become applicable from its promulgation, in accordance with its final article. This was indicated last Thursday, a statement from the Ministry of Justice.
With this publication, the State inaugurates a large -scale reform, intended to modernize its judicial system and to adapt criminal procedures to contemporary challenges, in particular that linked to the trafficking of psychotropic drugs, organized crime, corruption, but also to protect fundamental rights and to offer magistrates, lawyers and litigants a legal framework better suited to current realities.
One of the major innovations of the new code concerns the simplification of procedures. Articles 531 to 538 establish the criminal order, allowing the judge to rule without audience on simple cases, in particular those under the correctional field. This mechanism makes it possible to quickly deal with minor crimes in order to concentrate the legal effort on the most complex cases.
In the same spirit, articles 539 to 545 introduce the procedure of appearance on prior recognition of guilt (CRPC), inspired by plead-guilty. This provision allows an accused which recognizes the facts of obtaining a negotiated sentence, validated by the judge, while guaranteeing the central role of the lawyer. These measures are intended to unclog the courts and improve the speed of justice.
Law No. 25-14 also devotes the creation of specialized jurisdictions. Articles 317 and following establish a national economic and financial pole, competent for violations of corruption, money laundering and embezzlement of public funds. Similarly, articles 335 to 342 establish a national pole responsible for infractions related to information and communication technologies (ICT), responsible for treating cybercrime, digital fraud and electronic national security damage.
These poles have an enlarged competence, which can extend throughout the national territory, as well as reinforced procedural tools. They are called upon to play a decisive role in the fight against transnational traffic, including trafficking in psychotropic drugs, often linked to occult financial circuits and encrypted digital communications.
In addition, the new code devotes electronic evidence as an admissible element in criminal procedures. Articles 609 to 620 organize electronic communication of judicial acts, guaranteeing their authenticity, integrity and traceability. The law goes further by introducing, to book VII (articles 707 to 713), special survey techniques. These provisions allow, under strict judicial supervision, the sound system of private places, the capture of images, the interception and the recording of electronic communications, as well as access to digital data. These methods, hitherto limited, now become legal and supervised instruments, specifically intended to fight the serious forms of organized crime.
The scourge of psychotropic drugs, which touches Algerian youth with full force, is explicitly targeted by this reform. Traffic linked to psychotropic substances, often backed by transnational networks, require an adapted and modern response. The special survey techniques provided for in articles 707 to 713 allow security services and magistrates to monitor communications, infiltrate networks and collect decisive digital evidence.
In addition, the specialization of the courts and the recognition of electronic evidence give the judicial authorities the means to follow the trace of the financial flows resulting from these trafficking, to identify the accomplices and to carry out rapid seizures.
Another novelty, the creation of the National Agency for the Management of Advocate, Seized and Confiscked Advocates, provided for in articles 621 to 626. This institution is responsible for administering, preserving and enhancing the assets seized within the framework of legal proceedings. It intervenes in particular in corruption and drug trafficking affairs, in order to prevent the dissipation of criminal riches and to restore these resources to the State.
If the reform emphasizes efficiency and modernization, it does not forget the rights of the defense. The law gives a reinforced place to the lawyer, who becomes the only representative authorized in criminal affairs, dismissing unprofessional defenders. The judge’s control remains at the heart of the new procedures, in particular for the authorization of special survey techniques. This concern for balance reflects the desire to combine the necessary firmness in the face of organized crime with respect for fundamental rights, pillars of the rule of law.