The Minister of Justice, Ikta Abdoulaye Mohamed officially received, this Monday, March 27, 2023 at the headquarters of the mutual guard and national police, the Draft of the revised Penal Code.
The ceremony took place in the presence of the President of the National Committee in charge of reviewing and adapting the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, the EUCAP-Sahel Deputy Head of Mission, the Defense Forces and members of the Committee of the draft penal code.
This committee, which submits its report to the Minister of Justice, was officially set up on February 9, 2022 with the mission of identifying any inconsistency or inadequacy in the criminal code and the code of criminal procedure and remedying it; correct any grammatical, spelling or style errors; proceed with the internal organization of the articles of the criminal code and the code of criminal procedure.
This committee also has the task of integrating into the penal code and the code of procedure relevant provisions of international, regional and sub-regional legal instruments and finally of proposing any useful modification of these texts.
The Minister of Justice indicated, on this occasion, that ”the preliminary draft of the penal code that you have just officially submitted to me will be the subject of a meticulous examination by the government before being submitted to the ‘National Assembly, probably during its next session”.
”By giving me this document, you have just accomplished part of your historic mission and you now have the 2nd part which is not the least important, namely the reform of the code of criminal procedure” – he added before declaring that he was counting on the committee ”so that with the same objectivity, spirit of openness, tact, and availability, you end up with a consensual code of criminal procedure that meets the high expectations of litigants”.
The Minister of Justice justifies that ”this reform, wanted by the government, was motivated by the need to make available to the actors of justice an innovative, modern and practical instrument, which would make it possible to render justice in a more credible way. and equitable, more accessible and effective”.
At this level, “government action will mainly aim to improve the quality of our judicial system so that it is more equitable and accessible to all, against the backdrop of a resolute fight against corruption and to do this , the government intends to continue and consolidate the efforts hitherto made through the pursuit of legal and institutional reforms to monitor the performance of judicial actors” underlined the Minister of Justice for whom ”the task was certainly arduous, but given the experience, motivation and patriotism of the members making up the committee, quality work will be done”.
”I have followed all your work from start to finish through the President’s regular reports and I have greatly appreciated the high level of the often stormy but constructive debates” he hinted before expressing any his satisfaction after having gone through the document produced and noted with satisfaction that ”the committee fulfilled the mission perfectly.
For the President of the National Committee in charge of reviewing and adapting the penal code and the code of criminal procedure, Mr. Ousseini Djibage Maman Sani, ” the penal code currently in force was drafted in 1810 under the reign of King Napoleon Bonaparte, after the accession of our country to independence, it was consecrated in 1961 as a law of the State, apart from a few scattered modifications, it has really not undergone major revisions despite the socio-economic evolution. cultural, political and economic experience of our country.
According to the review committee, the code currently in force in Niger includes 3 books, 10 titles, 64 chapters, 106 sections and 408 articles while the new document proposed has 03 books, 09 titles, 72 chapters, 95 sections. and 609 articles and through these figures, we see that the preliminary draft has 1 title and 11 sections less than the current code.
This new version also has 8 chapters and 201 more articles, and obeys a new chronological numbering allowing better control of its provisions and several titles, chapters, sections and articles have been deleted, reformulated, moved or added.
Indeed, ”341 articles out of the 408 of the penal code in force were affected by the committee both in form and in substance, undefined or ill-defined offenses were re-specified and framed, to no longer leave room for diverse or tendentious interpretations” specified the chairman of the committee.
Finally, ” the document on the penal code proposed by the committee will allow Niger, if adopted, not only to ensure a better general framework of peace and security capable of strengthening the protection of human rights, the fight against ‘impunity and against crime in all its forms, and it will also make it possible to attract investors in a business environment guaranteeing better legal certainty” continued Ousseini Djibage Maman Sani.
As for the Deputy Head of Mission of EUCAP-Sahel, Mr. Jean Philippe Fougereau, he argued that ”it is always a challenge to undertake such a task, to be able to update a penal code by taking into account both the standards international organizations because Niger is a large state, while respecting the aspirations of the population”.
According to the head of mission, ”EUCAP-SAHEL will continue its support with the work of reviewing and adapting the Niger criminal procedure code in the coming weeks”.