Top Venezuelan court sends draft Criminal Code to Parliament

Luisa Estella Morales, the president of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ), said that the new draft Organic Criminal Code was forwarded to Venezuela's National Assembly. The new instrument was drafted by Venezuela's top court, she added.

The new instrument includes new computer and real estate crimes.

Morales, in an interview published by state-run newspaper Correo del Orinoco, said that "it is necessary to promote a profound transformation" in the Judiciary. She questioned several aspects of the Organic Code of Criminal Procedure (COPP), and insisted that there must be a one-off reform of the COPP (only two or three articles) through the Enabling Law.

Morales also noted that the Criminal Code "should be drafted again," and that the Code of Commerce should change its name and principles. "It should not exist," the Venezuelan justice concluded.