201. The JSP, with a budget of one and half billion CFA francs, aims at:
o Providing support for the training of judicial staff ;
o Support the emergence of local administration of justice all over
the country and opening up more flexible information outlets for
those who want to access justice (Local Law Centres);
o Reorganize national courts, the criminal justice system for the
publication of judgments through the creation of specialized
clusters.
202. This resulted in :
The adoption of a draft reform of the judicial map intended to establish
lower courts and high courts in localities with large population
concentration ;
The establishment of specialized local courts all over the country in such
areas as mediation, information, legal aid and legal assistance centres;
The establishment of a system of judicial assistance with a budget
allocation of 3000 million CFA francs in 2012 to enable deprived persons
to benefit from the services of a lawyer.
(a) Procedural guarantees in criminal matters :
203. One of the major principles underlying criminal procedures in line with the
relevant provisions of the African Charter and the interpretation given by your
Commission is that any limitation of the enjoyment of freedom can only be
ordered by an authority empowered by law, namely the corps of magistrates
and criminal investigation officers. Furthermore, the Criminal Procedure Code
(CPC), right from the beginning, had put in place very strict measures
concerning police custody ordered by a criminal investigation officer (CIO),
and detention arising from the competence of a judge. Disciplinary and
criminal sanctions are provided for in case of abuse of these rules.
(1) Rules governing police custody :
204. For purposes of investigations, in the case where the criminal investigation
officer is to keep one or several persons in custody, the duration shall not go
beyond 24 hours. The duration shall extend beyond 24 hours where there are
sufficient, reliable and consistent evidence against the said person or persons as
grounds for his/their indictment after which the police investigation officer must
send him/them to the public prosecutor or his representative. In case of any
practical difficulties regarding the transfer, the public prosecutor (PP) must
immediately be made aware of the conditions and the timeline for the transfer.
205. In the two cases, the criminal investigation officer must immediately inform
the PP, his representative or where necessary the President of the departmental
court vested with the powers of the PP about the measure he is to initiate and
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