Committee concludes review of penal code bill

Parliamentary committee assigned to review the penal code bill has finished its review.

The penal code bill, which was first sent to parliament in 2006, had 1204 articles when the review process was finished today.

Conclusion of the review was announced today after the committee finished assessing and incorporating the amendments proposed by the Attorney General’s Office. The committee also announced that the report of the review will be presented to parliament on Monday.

Within the last 10-day window that was granted to the Attorney General's Office on 25 November, the office had proposed 30 additional amendments which they noted as contradicting to the constitution and other legislation. The committee incorporated a majority of the comments to the bill today.

The committee also added a clause to the bill stating that the law will come into force within 6 months of its ratification.

The current penal code was passed in 1961.