Draft bill 316.

Summary.

The draft bill proposes amending Article 271 of the Criminal Procedure Code to regulate preliminary investigations initiated by the authorities, upon a report of an offense, or upon a private criminal complaint. For investigations arising from a report or private criminal complaint, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ministerio Público) would have a maximum of 18 months from the start of the investigation to conclude it. A Guarantees Judge (Juez de Garantías) could grant a single extension of up to 6 months by a reasoned decision. In deciding whether to grant it, the judge would consider the investigative steps taken, the complexity of the case, and steps still pending or prevented by objective circumstances. For investigations initiated by the authorities, the period of up to 18 months would run from their formal commencement. At the prosecutor’s reasoned request, the judge could authorize successive extensions of up to 6 months each, considering the same factors. Unjustified inactivity by the Public Prosecutor’s Office would not warrant an extension.

The proposed amendment to Article 280 governs the formal allegation of charges. When the Public Prosecutor’s Office considers the evidence against one or more individuals sufficient, it would request a hearing before a Guarantees Judge. At that hearing, the prosecutor would orally inform the persons under investigation of the specific offenses being investigated. The formal allegation of charges would identify the accused and set out the relevant facts, their provisional legal classification, the degree of participation, and the evidentiary elements supporting it. The defense could challenge or rebut it at the same hearing, request clarification, and seek its non-admission or rejection. The judge would decide whether to accept it as filed or reject it, weighing procedural and constitutional principles and the minimum evidentiary link between the person under investigation and the indications of the offense and its forms of commission. Once the formal allegation of charges is made, the person would be formally joined to the proceedings, and the applicable statutory time limits and legal effects would begin.

Proposed Article 349 provides that the Guarantees Judge would issue an order rejecting the indictment or opening the oral trial at the end of the hearing, if it is not suspended, or on a new date set within 5 days of receiving the case records from the Trial Court (Tribunal de Juicio). The judge could reject the indictment if it includes facts or persons outside the formal allegation of charges, lacks a precise and detailed account of the alleged criminal acts and their legal classification in accordance with the criminal case file, or relies on evidentiary elements that do not link the accused to the charged offense. Following rejection, the judge could order provisional dismissal or grant the Public Prosecutor’s Office a reasonable period to correct and complete the indictment. The order opening the trial would identify the competent court, the facts established under Article 343, any restorative action, the evidence contemplated under Article 346, and the witnesses, experts, and interpreters to be summoned, with their addresses or residences unless confidentiality applies under Article 332.

The text provides that the proposed law would take effect upon promulgation. The matter concerns the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Trial Court, the National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional), and the Government, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Committee (Comisión de Gobierno, Justicia y Asuntos Constitucional), and could be of interest to persons under investigation, defense counsel, persons reporting offenses, and private complainants in Panama. The legislative file identifies Law 63 of August 28, 2008 as the law to which the amendments relate.