Criminal Procedure Code._ Investigation Deadlines

The entry into force of the new Criminal Procedure Code in most cities in Peru, marked a special expectation among lawyers in general, because it was thought that the Research in tax stage would be ordered and set in reasonable time to avoid exposing alleged investigated to further damages that already occur when a person is subject to a tax or court investigation often without any involvement in alleged criminal acts.

The Code provides a deadline of 16 months between Preliminary and Preparatory investigations but in practice it is a dead letter because the Code has such a vacuum in this aspect that both Prosecutors and Judges interpret in their own way, the irrational thing is that intended to establish legal rules in relation to the deadline binding precedents issued by the Supreme Court and it is a huge mistake because if the Article 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code contains error and has, because it had to settle for periods the deadline of Police, Preliminary and Preparatory Investigations separately and not as a whole, it would make sense to amend the article of the Code which generate mistake and not try to direct it or interpret it based on Resolutions that resolved Cassations or Binding Precedents because if we review its contents among them there is also a contradiction.

In actual practice we can see that when we go to the Hearing Time Control before a judge often Prosecutors base their deadlines extensions with the intended complex investigation, but this should have expected the legislature to incorporate this article in de Code before above, was not done and now we have incredible results with research is tax base that exceeds quietly the 20 months of investigation as a whole, something completely paradoxical that violates due process while this Code section is not modified and establish a deadline separately for the police, preliminary and preparatory investigations we are going to continue with a huge problem for litigants and litigators that unfortunately are creating this new Code.

Study Miranda & Centeno Lawyers Group Sac

Ricardo Miranda Perez