Changes to the Penal Code / Petraj: No remand in custody for offences punishable by under five years in prison

Lawyer Edmond Petraj says that with the changes to the Criminal Procedure Code, the role and power of lawyers is brought to the fore.

On the “Newsroom” programme on ABC News, Petraj said that the evidence gathered by the prosecutor must be handed over to the lawyer.

According to him, criminal offences punishable by under five years in prison carry no social dangerousness.

“They have tried to bring to the fore the role and the power of lawyers. The lawyer is the most sidelined part. The relationship now, to realise separate articles on security measures, has been an element that even the prosecutors general, since 2005, have requested that for under five years, remand in custody not be given. But it was continuously not taken into consideration, and it was the prosecutor who decided how he would give the investigation for a given criminal offence. But these criminal offences do not have high social dangerousness. In my opinion, there is no deliberate interference from this. The part on the administrative measure must also be introduced for every violation caught in flagrante. The administrative measure part must be put into action. I think it will be done as the other European Union countries have it.

During the investigation, the evidence the prosecutor has gathered must be handed over to the lawyer and to the person in pre-trial detention. If this is done, we will have a separation of powers. If the evidence is on one side or the other of the scales, it must be seen where it prevails. If a gathered statement, an act of agreement, a reconciliation statement, is a good thing, we have no reason to activate other institutions outside,” he stressed.