Draft bill 100.

Summary.

The draft bill identifies effective judicial protection for victims and survivors of offenses against sexual freedom and integrity as one of its purposes. It proposes to safeguard their fundamental rights throughout the proceedings and recognize access to justice without a time restriction when the victim was a minor at the time the offense was committed or completed. It connects that access to obligations undertaken by the Panamanian State and calls for measures making those offenses exempt from limitation periods in that circumstance. Its stated purposes also include recognition of and compliance with the proposed provisions.

The bill declares its provisions to be matters of public order and social interest and provides that they would bind everyone in the national territory. That scope accompanies the criminal and procedural amendments developed in the following articles. The declaration is framed as a general rule for persons within the national territory, rather than as a rule limited to participants in criminal proceedings.

In the Criminal Code (Código Penal), the draft bill proposes to amend Article 121 on limitation of penalties. The revised article would add offenses against sexual freedom and integrity committed when the victim was a minor to the offenses for which the penalty would not become time barred. The same provision continues to cover terrorism, crimes against humanity, and enforced disappearance. The condition concerning the victim’s age is tied to when the offense was committed or completed.

In the Criminal Procedure Code (Código Procesal Penal), the draft bill proposes to amend Article 116, which governs limitation periods for criminal prosecution. It retains a period equal to the maximum prison sentence applicable to the charged offense and a three year period for offenses punishable by penalties other than imprisonment. For embezzlement of public funds, unjustified enrichment, and property offenses against any public entity, it sets a period equal to twice the statutory maximum. It adds offenses against sexual freedom and integrity involving victims who were minors at the time of the act to the offenses for which criminal prosecution would not become time barred, alongside terrorism, crimes against humanity, and enforced disappearance.

The proposed amendment to Article 119 of the Criminal Procedure Code sets when the limitation period for criminal prosecution begins. For completed offenses, it begins on completion; for continuing and permanent offenses, when they cease; and for attempts, on the last act directed toward commission of the offense. For unlawful withholding of contributions, the period would begin on the day the worker should have acquired the right to a pension or retirement benefit. The final article identifies the amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code. The proposal concerns victims and survivors, persons subject to criminal proceedings, workers affected by unlawful withholding of contributions, and public entities affected by the property offenses it identifies.