Quote:

Criminal Procedure Act (November 2019)

Proposed By: McChimp

Preamble

This act defines the procedure by which the Court shall conduct Criminal Reviews in accordance with Article V Section 7 of the Twelfth Mandate.

Section 1. Petitioning the Court

(1) Petitions to conduct a Criminal Review shall:

a. be submitted to the Court in a public area,
b. identify a Defendant,
c. identify the crimes the Defendant is alleged to have committed and
d. include evidence and commentary thereof in support of the allegations.

(2) The Court shall consider the petition for three days before deciding whether to conduct a Criminal Review by two-thirds vote.

(3) Upon deciding to conduct a Criminal Review, the Court shall immediately serve notice upon both the Plaintiff and the Defendant that a Criminal Review has begun and refer them to this document.

Section 2. Criminal Reviews

(1) Criminal Reviews shall be conducted in a public area.

(2) Once the Criminal Review has begun:

a. the Defendant shall be granted seven days to present evidence in their defence and commentary on all evidence submitted to the Court thus far
b. then the Plaintiff shall be granted four days to present further evidence and commentary on all evidence submitted to the Court thus far. After this, the Criminal Review will conclude.

(3) The Plaintiff and the Defendant may each be represented by another person who they may identify at any time. Each of them may be represented by only one person at any given time.

Zapatian Workers State;7246 Wrote:I suggest that there should be legal allowance for other nations to act as prosecutor and defense attorney, whether they originate from in or out of region. I would also recommend that the titles "Petitioner" and "Accused" should be replaced with "Plaintiff" and "Defendant." Although this will require further amendment of the supreme law, I also believe that the government of Lazarus should have an attorney-general to prosecute treason cases. However, since you are already working on an amendment, it should not be too difficult to work it in.

Debussy;7247 Wrote:Can a petitioner be a non-citizen?

Debussy;7252 Wrote:Should we spell that out under section 1 or is that done somewhere else? I would be disappointed if the court decided that that was not the case because it was not clear somewhere.

McChimp;7250 Wrote:

Zapatian Workers State;7246 Wrote:I suggest that there should be legal allowance for other nations to act as prosecutor and defense attorney, whether they originate from in or out of region. I would also recommend that the titles "Petitioner" and "Accused" should be replaced with "Plaintiff" and "Defendant." Although this will require further amendment of the supreme law, I also believe that the government of Lazarus should have an attorney-general to prosecute treason cases. However, since you are already working on an amendment, it should not be too difficult to work it in.

The proposal does make allowances for the petitioner and the accused to be represented by another person (who need not be a citizen):

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(3) The Petitioner and the Accused may each be represented by another person who they may identify at any time. Each of them may be represented by only one person at any given time.

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Since the constitutional amendment is already at vote, it's passed the point where I can make changes. The wording I chose was intended to be more compatible with non-adversarial Court procedures, which I still consider a possibility in the long term.
The idea of an attorney general was considered when we first thought about having a criminal court here and for the most part I agree with the arguments against having one. I don't see the benefit of electing/confirming somebody to do something that every citizen ought to be able to do anyway, especially since court cases are so rare that for most of the time they'd have nothing to do. If the government wishes to bring a case against someone then it makes sense for the most appropriate minister to do so. This also grants greater flexibility, preventing the problems caused by circumstances such as the attorney general being unwilling to bring a case against somebody for personal reasons.

McChimp;7251 Wrote:

Debussy;7247 Wrote:Can a petitioner be a non-citizen?

No, though the accused may be.