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Chief Prosecutor "against" the new Criminal Code/ Çela: Repressive tendency that increases the potential for criminalization

2025-07-29 17:52:00, Aktualitet CNA

Chief Prosecutor "against" the new Criminal Code/ Çela:

Prosecutor General Olsian Çela spoke in an interview about the draft of the new Criminal Code.

Çela said that the institution he heads was not present at the presentation of the draft of the new code, as they were not previously familiar with the draft in question.

"The Ministry of Justice invited the Prosecutor General to participate in the activity of presenting the draft and to deliver a welcoming speech. The Prosecutor General informed the organizers of his decision not to participate in this activity due to his prior lack of familiarity with the draft in question. The Prosecutor General's Office was not officially represented in the working group for drafting a new criminal code. At one point, a representative from the Prosecutor General's Office was requested to participate in a phase of discussions on a general part of the draft completed by the working group and then in mid-2023, this general part of the code project was sent to prosecutors for consultation, but there was no concrete follow-up ," said Çela.

Further, the Chief Prosecutor also focused on the changes in the new Criminal Code.

Çela said that expanding the range of actions categorized as dangerous and classifying them as criminal offenses increases the potential for criminalization and brings consequences to the lives of citizens.

" The general spirit in the draft to expand the circle of actions that are categorized as dangerous to such an extent that they are classified as criminal offenses and punished with imprisonment, shows a repressive tendency that increases the potential for criminalization of the individual in society and that brings significant consequences in the lives of citizens ," said Çela.

Prosecutor General Olsian Çela also spoke about the public consultation phase of the draft Criminal Code.

Regarding this phase, Çela stated that they are often influenced by momentary emotions, which should not be allowed to happen in such an important law.

" Experience has shown that the lawmaking process in the country, at least as far as the justice system and especially the criminal legal framework are concerned, is flawed and is often influenced by the needs and emotions of the moment" and "when it comes to a code, this mistake should not be allowed to be repeated for such an important law ", declared Olsian Çela.