General Council of North and East Syria passes Law of Criminal Procedure

RAQQA, Syria — The General Council of the Democratic Autonomous Administration (DAA) of North and East Syria held its 30th session in the Raqqa city on Tuesday.

The session was attended by, among others, Co-Chair of the General Council of North and East Syria Siham Quryo, and a majority of the members of the General Council.

The session began with a minute of silence to commemorate the souls of martyrs, followed by the swearing-in of the five-member executive body. The Council then approved the appointment of two new members to the General Council of Gozarto (Jazira) and Dayro Zcuro (Deir ez-Zor) regions.

The Council then moved to a discussion of the draft law of criminal procedure and the reading of its provisions to be voted on and approved separately. The law was fully ratified by the Council and went into effect immediately.

The DAA’s Law of Criminal Procedure consists of 261 articles divided into several sections and provisions and include the procedures to be followed by the Investigation and Prosecution Commission and the functions and competences of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Imad al-Karaf, Co-Chair of the Social Justice Council, stressed that the Law of Criminal Procedure, “Conforms to relevant international conventions and treaties and conforms to the concept and principles of social justice.”

“The importance of this law comes from the fact that it determines the competence and mechanism of the work of the criminal judicial bodies and determines the stages of the criminal proceedings,” al-Karaf continued.