Commentary on the Congolese Penal Procedure Code

Criminal procedure is a set of legal rules that govern the way in which offenses are established, investigated, prosecuted and judged. It leads (criminal procedure) from fact to law, i.e. from the apprehension of a factual situation presenting the appearance of a breach of criminal law to the judicial determination of the existence (or not) of an offence and its imputability (or not) to a person, with consequences in law. It therefore studies the criminal trial.The criminal trial thus becomes the translation of the State's commitment to the respect of human rights; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself becomes a veritable charter of human rights on trial, with the specific aim of defending the rights of the individual. This is why some authors have said that criminal procedure is the thermometer of a State's democratic temperature. The Congolese code of criminal procedure was amended and supplemented by law no. 06/019 of July 20, 2006. As indicated in its explanatory memorandum, this law introduces some commendable innovations.