The Court of Cassation annuls the imprisonment of a lawyer and remands the case to the Public Prosecution
A misdemeanor appeals court, presided over by Advisor Badr Al-Sarawi and composed of Advisors Mohammad Al-Sallal, Ahmad Al-Yassin, Muslem Al-Shahmoumi, and Salman Al-Suwait, ruled the investigation procedures against a lawyer accused of insulting a Ministry of Justice employee null and void, and remanded the case to the Public Prosecution, deeming it the competent authority for investigation.
The Public Prosecution had charged the lawyer with insulting a Ministry of Justice employee by uttering words during the performance of her duties, in a public place and in the presence and hearing of others. The misdemeanor court sentenced her to one month in prison, suspended for three years, after she provided a guarantee of good conduct and behavior with bail amounting to 500 dinars. This judgment was upheld by the appellate misdemeanor court.
The lawyer’s representative, attorney Mohammad Ahmad Taleb, appealed the judgment before the appeals court, arguing that the investigation procedures were null and void due to the lack of jurisdiction of the General Administration of Investigations (Public Prosecution) to investigate the incident, as it was connected to his client’s work as a lawyer, and that jurisdiction exclusively belongs to the Public Prosecution. During the hearings, he insisted on the grounds of appeal, leading the court to accept the appeal procedurally and, on the merits, to quash the judgment, remitting the file to the General Administration of Investigations to refer it to the Public Prosecution.
The court emphasized in its reasoning that Article 11 bis of the Law Regulating the Legal Profession, amended by Law No. 62 of 1996, explicitly states that “no lawyer may be investigated for a crime connected to his work except under the knowledge of the Public Prosecution.” The legislator established this safeguard to protect the independence of the legal profession and prevent retaliatory measures against lawyers, restricting the power to investigate crimes related to their professional activities exclusively to the Public Prosecution.
It further added that the incident attributed to the appellant occurred while she was carrying out a professional act related to registering a lawsuit, thereby making it connected to the practice of her profession. Consequently, the Public Prosecution alone should have assumed responsibility for investigating it. Since the General Administration of Investigations conducted the investigation in violation of the law, these procedures were null and void, rendering null and void everything built upon them, including the trial procedures and the judgments issued by both the misdemeanor court and the appellate misdemeanor court.
The court concluded by quashing the appealed judgment, declaring the investigation and trial procedures null and void, and remitting the file to the General Administration of Investigations to refer it to the Public Prosecution to complete the investigation in accordance with the jurisdiction defined by law.
