Senate President highlights urgency of approving Criminal Code; does not rule out convening a session on Saturday

Santo Domingo. – The president of the Senate, Ricardo de los Santos, reaffirmed this Thursday the commitment of the National Congress to approve the new Penal Code before the end of the current legislature, even if that implies extending the sessions until the weekend.

"We therefore call for tomorrow, and remember that, although we call for tomorrow, we also ask the senators not to commit on Saturday, because if it is necessary to work on Saturday, we will also work on Saturday", said De los Santos.

You may be interested in: http://Diputados preparan segunda lectura del Código Penal tras verificar artículos omitidos por el Senado

The legislator explained that the bills must go through a rigorous review process, especially when dealing with a text as complex as the Criminal Code.

“Remember that a comma damages the context of an entire expression,” he warned, highlighting the importance of bicameral work.

Regarding the possible changes introduced in the Chamber of Deputies, De los Santos clarified that it will be the technical commission that will verify each modification. “I am going to work with the commission that is in charge of making the verifications. We'll see, because it may be the case that it is being observed from a different point of view than the one we saw in the Senate,” he pointed out. He added that, during the study of the project, the Senate modified more than 150 articles.