Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, 1st. Nov.- Law 143 of the Criminal Procedure continues today its implementation in Cuba with the introduction of new penal institutions such as the criterion of opportunity, the prohibition of approaching the victim and the sentence of conformity.
The vice president of the Supreme People's Court (TSP) of the island, Maricela Sosa, explained that since the entry into force of the provision in January 2022 until August 2023, 2,891 victims have appeared at that institution.
In an interview with the Cubadebate site, the official explained that 52 percent supported the prosecutor's accusation and 23.9 percent acted as an adjuvant.
Likewise, around 3.6 percent, 103 victims independently filed civil action because they did not agree with the amount being requested and appeared in Court with a lawyer.
Sosa also referred to the opportunity criteria, one of the institutions included in the Law, through which the Prosecutor's Office decides to refrain from carrying out criminal action.
The opportunity criteria are applied when the crime was committed recklessly or in cases where it is intentional and its sanctioning framework does not exceed five years of deprivation of liberty.
In this sense, he stressed that 2,481 people have requested that the Court review the precautionary measure, and the entity considered that provisional detention was not necessary for 304 people and imposed another precautionary measure on them.
She pointed out that another precautionary measure included in the provision is the prohibition of approaching the victim, his relatives and family, for the accused for the possible commission of a crime.
In this case, there are 402 prohibitions on approach imposed by the TSP.
To compensate the victims, the Law also established precautionary measures such as the prohibition of alienating assets and the bail, seizure or preventive deposit of assets and highlighted that the Court has imposed these measures in 21 processes.
Likewise, she addressed conformity, described as “the possibility that the accused has of expressing to the court that he agrees with the prosecutor's request.”
Between January 2022 and August 2023, the TSP accepted 518 cases in which compliance was expressed, including 124 before the oral trial.
She commented that another of the issues introduced by the law is annulments, the way citizens have to report violations of guarantees and rights in due process.
To date, 33 annulments have been presented, mainly related to the instructions of the case, the chain of guard and custody or the taking of samples. (Text and photo: PL)
