Culprits to be detained under arrest up to 6 months and authors of grave felonies – up to a year

The Parliament set a limit-term of 6 months of culprits’ preventive arrest, excepting those who committed grave felonies. For them the preventive arrest will be of one year. The Parliament approved on Thursday, July 13 the mentioned-above amendments to the Penal Procedure Code. The persons who committed felonies for which the legislation stipulates a maximum 15 years imprisonment are included in the first category, while the persons who committed felonies for which they can be punished with imprisonment of up to 25 years or life imprisonment are included in the second category. According to the new amendments, after these terms will expire, the culprit can address a court only in exceptional cases. In this situation the term will be extended by 3 months, until the decision will of the court will be made. According to the deputy Minister of Justice Nicolae Esanu, the draft law aims at eliminating the numerous cases when the culprits are detained under arrest for an exaggerated period without knowing the decision of the court. According to the authors of the initiative, the proposed amendments are complying with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.