Sentenced to

Juvenile Court has sentenced a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old who was convicted of cannabis trafficking to “Islaahee Marukazu,” the Juvenile Detention Center for the first time.

This is the first sentencing by the Juvenile Court to be carried out at the Juvenile Detention Center. But the Maldives does not have a Juvenile Detention Center.

Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) said that the Juvenile Court passed the sentence because doing everything possible to rehabilitate criminals is the responsibility of all the relevant institutes of the state.

“…this is in relation to the decision made after meetings held at Juvenile Court to bring the issue to the attention with all relevant institutes by the Judges Council of the Juvenile Court to rehabilitate children in such centers starting from July 2015.” DJA said.

The sentence from the Juvenile Court said that the defendants are found guilty of cannabis trafficking following the witness testimonies and evidence presented at that court as per Article 51-H of the Constitution of the Republic of Maldives.

And so the two defendants are sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison and each fined with MVR 66,666.66, which has to be paid to the Juvenile Court in one month.

Under Article 17-B of the Law of Juvenile Offenders, the court ordered to keep the two children at a Juvenile Detention Center for the duration of the sentence.