Justice minister: new penal procedure code to preserve defense rights

Moroccan justice minister, Mohammed Bouzoubaa, said the new code of penal procedure is a purely Moroccan law, based on all advanced theories of penal policies meant to preserve the defense rights.

The minister explained at a conference on "the penal code novelties" that the new text, whose first article consecrates the presumption of innocence, entitles the court to re-conciliate parties in case of minor offenses, in a bid to reduce the load of cases brought to justice.

It also redefines the concepts of "judicial control" and "preventive custody," which substitutes for other measures like the prohibition to leave national territory or house arrest, Bouzoubaa said, adding that commissions were created to check sentence enforcement, mainly through visits to jails, and to ensure whether coercive detention is justified.

The minister gave an expose on the penal procedure's development, saying that most violations of the text came from misinterpretations.