Legal procedures for the Judicial Council against (Covid 19)

With the emergence of this (Covid19) global virus, which has now infiltrated all facets of life, including economic, social, political and educational implications....etc. There is no doubt Judiciary is one of the essential Authorities in a society where most of the day-to-day circumstances are dealt with by law. Like the other countries that were exposed to this emergency situation, the Kurdistan Region has issued a series of instructions and preventive measures from the Ministry of Health and Interior to control and get rid of this virus.

In respect to the functioning of the judiciary and the courts, they also led to many problems, which are concerned with filing lawsuits, the right of litigants, and investigation of cases, periods of appeal, termination of the case, release, and final judgment at the court. Therefore, the Judicial Council issued a decision No (15) in 8/4/2020 which mentioned the temporary suspension of a set of legal articles in the Civil Procedure Law No.(83) 1969 such as (174, 204,216,221,240),

The foregoing articles concern to the length of appeal against judicial decisions, litigation, the death of the convicted person or the loss of his eligibility for prosecution or suspension of the period and the transfer of the judgment to the heirs, and also the period of appeal by the Court of Cassation which is thirty days concerning the decisions of the courts of the first instance, personal matters courts, personal status court, appeal court and the period of grievance in remand custody, also the period for requesting a correction of the decision, which is seven days starting from the day following to inform the decision which issued by the Court of Excellence, and the period in all cases ends in six months after the issuance of the decision to be corrected.

As well as in completing the decision of the Judicial Council also came to suspend some articles in the Criminal Procedure Law No(23) of 1971amended such as (249,266),

The foregoing articles concern to the powers of the public prosecution, the accused, the complainant, the civil prosecutor and a civil official in their right to appeal in front of the Court of Excellence in the rulings, decisions and measures issued by the Criminal Court in the misdemeanor or a felony if it violates the law or there were mistakes in its application or interpretation or if a fundamental mistake occurred in the essential procedures or in assessing evidence or estimating punishment. It was a significant mistake in judgment.

In the last part of the decision of the Judicial Council obliged the courts to adhere to articles (49) and (63) of Civil Procedure Law No. (83) 1969 amended; with determining another date of advocating for both civil and criminal cases should start at the beginning of the official working and also inform the parties of the case about the date of the advocating.

At the end of this article, it can be said there no doubt this virus affected in all areas of life, as well as did not leave the field of legal and judicial works, and there are many people have become a victim of this virus. Therefore, these measures by the Judicial Council are Successful and at an appropriate time in order to the application of the emergency theory and the protection of the rights of individuals in society.