Cuba continues implementing procedural laws

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 30 (ACN) The legal activity in the country during 2023 was largely crossed by the control actions to ensure compliance with the approved procedural laws that endow the citizenry with the powers provided for in the Constitution of the Republic.

In information shared exclusively to the Cuban News Agency by the People's Supreme Court (TSP by its Spanish acronym), it is emphasized that these norms respond to the provisions contained in the Magna Carta in Articles 94 and 95, where the rights and guarantees of the population are reinforced, which makes it possible to deploy a higher quality in the criminal process.

Regarding the Criminal Procedure Law, they share as general evaluations that it is a modern, comprehensible and practical legislation that allows the adaptation of legality in terms of the confrontation of crime in its multiple manifestations.

The TSP emphasizes that in the current context, given the increase in the incidence and complexity of crimes and the number of complaints being processed, together with the increase in investigative actions and proceedings to comply with the maxims of due process, there is a demand for greater preparation of investigators and criminal instructors to avoid prolonged delays in some cases and lawsuits.

For example, in the indicated period, the Attorney General's Office of the Republic determined the nullity of 929 processes, mostly detected in the preparatory phases related to acts that required to be corrected or repeated.

The courts also returned 33 % of the cases received to the Prosecutor's Office, mainly in Havana and Santiago de Cuba, due to the need to expand the corresponding investigations, the reestablishment of violations of formalities and the non-correspondence between the facts charged and those investigated, among other reasons.

They also highlighted the application of pre-trial detention in the great majority of the accused in more serious crimes, highlighting in this section the crimes against livestock, those associated with drug trafficking, those linked to administrative corruption and those that affected the availability of fuel.

Other measures applied in accordance with the provisions of the law were the prohibition to leave the national territory while waiting for the clarification of the facts, the prohibition to approach the victims (mainly in matters related to gender violence) and the suspension of driving licenses.

They shared that as a result of the procedural work during the year, 95% of the persons judged were sanctioned, 70 of them with internment sanctions, 21% with non-retentive penalties and 9% with fines and to a lesser extent with reprimands (0.3%).