Deputies prepare second reading of the Penal Code after verifying articles omitted by the Senate

Santo Domingo. – The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Pacheco, informed that "a couple of articles that were not considered in the Senate and that were skipped" were detected, which were identified by technicians from the senatorial hemicircle and will be included in the modifications that will be presented this Thursday in the second reading of the Penal Code project. Pacheco detailed that, after a day of more than 13 hours that began at 10:00 a.m. and ended after 11:00 p.m. this Wednesday, the complete reading of the more than 400 articles that make up the reform was completed.

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He underlined that, although the project was declared urgent and approved in its first reading, it was decided to stop the second reading "in order to correct the situations", thus allowing the text to be refined with technical observations The procedure will continue this Thursday, when the plenary session of the deputies meets from 10:00 a.m. and, if conditions allow, it will be sought to submit the project to a vote that same day If not possible, the vote was postponed to this Friday or Saturday, before the end of the current legislature

More about the Penal Code

The project, which contains more than 70 new criminal classifications, including femicide, contract killing, genocide, bullying, harassment, and crimes involving chemical substances, was approved by the Senate last Tuesday, after a process in a bicameral commission. In this technical chamber, the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, Ricardo de los Santos and Alfredo Pacheco, actively participated in the review, which highlights a political consensus to close a reform that has been pending for more than 20 years. After the introduction in second reading in the Chamber of Deputies, each legislator will have the opportunity to issue specific observations, with the aim of enriching the text. Subsequently, the project will return to the Senate to validate the adjustments, before continuing to the Executive Branch.