Proposition 55K0773

Projet de loi modifiant l'article 21 du titre préliminaire du Code de procédure pénale.

General information ¶

Authors

CD&V Servais Verherstraeten
DéFI Sophie Rohonyi
Ecolo Zakia Khattabi
Groen Stefaan Van Hecke
MR Philippe Goffin
N-VA Valerie Van Peel
Open Vld Katja Gabriëls, Goedele Liekens
PS | SP Khalil Aouasti
Vooruit John Crombez

Submission date

Nov. 19, 2019

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

criminal procedure

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP DéFI Open Vld N-VA LDD MR PVDA | PTB VB

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Discussion ¶

Nov. 28, 2019 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mr. Speaker, at this advanced hour, one would normally reasonably expect me to refer to the written report, but that is not yet there. Therefore, since it is a legislative proposal that is treated in cases of extreme urgency, I will submit a very summary oral report.

On 14 November, the Chamber decided to impose the immortality of sexual crimes committed against minors. This was done by amending Articles 21 and 21bis of the previous title of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The proposition of the law, that sexual offences committed against minors can no longer last, was safeguarded there as a principle.

Due to a significant neglect in the legislation, namely by failing to link between the limitation periods for minors and the limitation periods for adults, the law adopted fourteen days ago has a very undesirable effect. The most serious sexual offence, namely the rape with the result of death, committed on adult persons, does not age at fifteen, but at ten years.

To remedy this and bring the limitation period back to fifteen years, a proposal from colleague Van Hecke has come. That proposal was unanimously approved in the committee and we would like to ask that it be approved today as much as possible in Chamberbreed to avoid all practical problems. The technical choice was made for a direct amendment of Article 21. This provides the advantage that the reparation law can be published together with the initial law and therefore there will be no negative consequences for the practice. I would like to thank the Justice Services and all the Commissioners who have worked on this.

Thank you, Mr D'Haese, for the report.

Mr. Van Hecke, you have the word.

Mr. Speaker, I can be very brief, because the oral report was very complete and everybody knows the problem. In fact, I can limit myself to a reference to the already well-known proverb: hurry and hurry is rarely good.