Finances News Hebdo: The Chamber of Advisors recently adopted by majority Bill No. 43.22 relating to alternative sentences. What are the main objectives of this bill and what are the different forms of alternative penalties provided for by this text?
Me Omar Mahmoud Bendjelloun: The spirit of this reform is positive. He triumphs in the new penal school, that of its founding theoreticians Lombrozo and Beccaria, which establishes a system of punishment inscribed in reintegration, by moving it as far away as possible from the custodial sentence. This bill contains classic measures that replace incarceration timetion through community service, the electronic bracelet or even daily fines. These measures are not valid for major crimes and are governed by sanctions in the event of failure by the accused beneficiaries.
FNH: How will this bill contribute to the modernization of criminal policy in Morocco?
Mr. OMB: There has been a dynamic of human rights in Morocco both at the level of civil society and political as well as the State, which joined it at the end of the 80s and in an explicit and assumed manner since the new era. All the recommendations of national NGOs and constitutional institutions adopt the path of the new penal policy which is in reintegration, re-education, rehabilitation, rather than blind punishment and punishment of anti-social behavior. It is more than modernization, it is the royal road towards a certain idea of civilization, like the debate relating to the abolition of the death penalty.
FNH: Will this bill really help resolve the problem of prison overpopulation?
Mr. OMB: If applied rationally, it will contribute to this important problem of “enforcement of sentences”, which must be treated as a reform of justice and humanity, and not as a simple statistical manipulation. Moreover, the alternative penalty linked to the daily fine must be designed so that it is not perceived and executed as a measure in favor of rich criminals, which in this case is a legitimate concern, but of a fair measure that honors a new judicial philosophy.
FNH: In your opinion, what are the next legislative texts to be adopted to complete this bill, particularly with regard to the penal code and the criminal procedure code?
Me OMB: In the Code of Criminal Procedure, there should be an extreme restriction on preventive detention in order not to punish before judging, and maintain this exceptional measure only for major crimes and misdemeanors proving the damage and the real social threat. . This exceptional measure must also be specific to a judge of freedoms and detention, independent of the prosecutor and the investigating judge, making it possible at the same time to regulate the risk of abuse, arbitrariness and expedition . As for the Penal Code, we must now have the courage to decriminalize certain offenses that can be resolved differently than by detention, particularly provisional detention, which hampers the judicial institution from the investigation to the final judgment, when it should be dedicate and focus on the regulation of the country and civil peace.
