HIBAPRESS – A. Muhyawi
In a notable escalation in the course of this criminal case, the Criminal Appeals Chamber of the Court of Appeal in Fez issued, on Tuesday afternoon, a ruling that provides for the tightening of the penalty against the accused of killing a traffic policeman in the city of Imouzzer Kandar, raising the prison sentence from 18 to 25 years in prison.
This decision comes after the judicial body reclassified the actions attributed to the accused, considering them a premeditated murder with premeditation and surveillance, instead of the previous classification, which classified them as beating and wounding leading to death without the intention of causing it. The primary court had convicted the accused, during last October, of 18 years in prison, based on the provisions of Article 403 of the Penal Code, with bearing the court costs. However, developments in the case at the appeal level, both in terms of discussing the facts and estimating the elements of criminal intent, led to a review of the ruling and its tightening. On the civil level, the compensation ruled in favor of the parties claiming civil rights was upheld, including the General Directorate of National Security, where the compensation was set at 20,000 dirhams for each party, with the accused bearing the costs of the case according to the percentage ruled. This ruling reflects a strict judicial approach in dealing with serious crimes, especially those targeting law enforcement officers while they are performing their duties, in the context of enhancing the sense of security and consolidating the principle of non-impunity.
