Criminal Procedure consists of the rules governing the administration of justice with regard to individuals who have been accused of having committed a crime. It encompasses all the steps relevant to the pursuit of justice against an alleged criminal offender, beginning with the initial investigation of the crime up until the conclusion of their trial.
The importance of Criminal Procedure Codes lies in that it provides important directions to all officials involved in the enforcement of criminal justice and furthermore clarifies the rights that are afforded to an alleged criminal offender.
Despite this, a systemized and codified set of Criminal Law guidelines is not yet available in the Maldives. Although a bill has been pending in parliament since 2010, there is, to iterate, currently no specific legislation comprehensively delineating Criminal Procedure.
The procedures in the governance update are thus predicated on a combination of regulations made by the Ministry of Justice predating the 2008 constitution, and rules and regulations subsequently made by the Supreme Court along with an evolving set of principles that have become convention through court precedent.
Read the governance update on Criminal procedure in the Maldives