إثارة الدعوى العمومية من طرف النيابة العامة في التشريعين الموريتاني و التونسي

Abstract EN

One of the well-established principles in contemporary criminal legislation is that "there is no penalty without trial," So the state may not implement the penalty before having a judicial sentence establishing the penalty and deciding its enforcement.

The state's right to punishment pass through several procedural stages start with the investigation of crimes and the collection of evidence, and end with the issuance of a decision either acquittal or conviction and the execution of the sentence.

These stages are accomplished through the initiation and exercise of the public lawsuit.

Both the Mauritanian and Tunisian legislations give the Public Prosecution Office, in addition to the other parties, the right to initiate a public lawsuit as it deems appropriate.

Each of the two legislations specifies three methods to initiate a public lawsuit, which are (i) direct referral to the competent court, (ii) request for investigation, or (iii) presentation of the accused directly to the hearing in case of flagrante delicto, but the two legislations differ in the scope of those methods.

As an exception, the Mauritanian legislator did not make investigations mandatory except in specific felonies mentioned in Article 71 of the Penal Procedure Code as a matter of arrest.