Senate approves bill creating the Ministry of Justice
The Senate approved this Thursday, with 21 votes in favor and on first reading, a bill creating the Ministry of Justice , an initiative that was promoted by the Executive Branch since 2022, but which had lapsed due to its lack of progress.
Three years later, in this Thursday's session, the senators decided to approve the bill on first reading, arguing, through a report, that the new Ministry of Justice would reduce the burden on the Public Prosecutor's Office.
According to the initiative, the Ministry of Justice will be the planning, direction, coordination, and execution body of the Justice System, which is, in turn, an entity composed of eight institutions linked to judicial matters.
The new Ministry of Justice will be composed of the following deputy ministries:
- Attention and collaboration
- Legal representation
- Human Rights
- Penitentiary Policies
- Registry Affairs
The bill establishes that the Minister of Justice may defend the State in arbitration forums, coordinate the National Human Rights System, coordinate the prison services system, and administer registry matters.
The same bill approved by the senators creates a penitentiary and correctional system that brings together 12 state institutions to manage and control the country's prisons, a function that had been under the direction of the Attorney General's Office.
To ease the burden on the Public Ministry, the bill proposes that 12 entities currently under the Attorney General's Office be placed under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice .
The entities that would be absorbed by the Ministry of Justice are:- Penitentiary Management Model
- Non-profit associations
- Representation of victims' rights
- General Directorate of Prisons
- National Penitentiary School
- Repatriated Division
- Directorate of custody and administration of seized assets
- International Legal Assistance
- Division of Housing Rent Control
- Citizen service centers
- Department of Judicial Control
- Documentation Center
Following its approval on first reading, the Senate is now holding the bill for a second reading, which, if successful, will be referred to the Chamber of Deputies.
In 2022, the Executive Branch's Legal Advisory Office led several consultations for the draft of the bill, which was subsequently submitted to the Chamber of Deputies in May 2023, but the bill was unsuccessful.
The new bill approved by the senators is a joint proposal by Senators Félix Bautista of the Fuerza del Pueblo party and Cristóbal Venerado Castillo of the Partido Revolucionario Moderno (PRM).
TOPICS -
Diariolibre
