Morocco Introduces Remote Court Hearings to Protect Prisons from COVID-19

The measure will be in effect for one month, as part of the strengthening of efforts to control potential sources of transmission of coronavirus infection in the prison environment, reports the Map, which points out that it has also been decided "to temporarily prohibit the transfer of prisoners to public hospitals, except in case of extreme emergency".

In line with the ministry, the General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR) has also taken measures to strengthen the medical teams under the Ministry of Health within the prison establishments. This involves "the implementation of specialized remote medical consultations". These are decisions that have been made in light of the cases of contamination recorded in certain prisons in the country. It is moreover to avoid the virus from igniting the prison environment that the Delegation had from the beginning, suspended family visits, and stopped the reintegration activities carried out collectively in the various penitentiary establishments.

Minister Mohammed Benabdelkader stated that "if the adoption of the remote hearing technique, in the current situation, remains governed by the condition of force majeure, it will require legislative intervention in the future, first to consolidate the principle of legitimacy, and then to develop its own provisions". A preliminary draft would even already be in preparation in this direction.

But pending the implementation of the "remote trial" system, the Ministry of Justice has raised some "legal concerns, in relation to the right to a public trial before the court". However, several actors in the judicial system believe that the constraints dictated by covid-19 remain an opportunity to reform the justice sector through "the acceleration of the digital transformation of the judicial process".