Court of Cassation Cancels Two-Year Prison Sentence for Citizen in Fornication Case Due to Wife's Failure to File Complaint

The Court of Cassation annulled the first-instance and appellate court rulings that had sentenced a citizen to two years in prison for adultery, and again ruled against accepting the criminal case due to the victim-wife’s failure to file a complaint against her accused husband.

The ruling came after the defense lawyer, Abdulmohsen Al-Qattan, appeared before the Court of Cassation, arguing that the prerequisite of a formal complaint necessary to initiate criminal proceedings was not met in the case at hand.

The first-instance court had initially sentenced the accused to two years in prison, and the appellate court upheld the verdict. However, the defense appealed the ruling to the Court of Cassation, insisting that the victim-wife’s failure to file a complaint against her husband constituted a necessary procedural requirement for the admissibility of the case.

After reviewing the appeal, the Court of Cassation accepted it on procedural grounds and, on the merits, quashed the appealed judgment with respect to the appellant. It then ruled on the substance of the appeal by annulling the convicted portion of the lower court’s decision.

The court again ruled against accepting the criminal case due to the lack of a complaint filed by the victim-wife against her accused husband, thereby concluding the legal proceedings against the accused with a ruling of non-acceptance of the case.