Mistakes made by law enforcers in prosecuting or filing court cases were among the issues topping the agenda at yesterday’s meeting between the parliament’s Standing Committee and law protection bodies.

The National Assembly committee and the four main law enforcement agencies met at the NA’s headquarters in Vientiane yesterday, with the meeting chaired by NA President Ms Pany Yathortou. The four law enforcement agencies are the People’s Supreme Prosecutor, People’s Supreme Court, Ministry of Public Security, and Ministry of Justice.

The committee asked the People’s Supreme Prosecutor to deliver a brief about the mistakes made by prosecutors in relation to ordering cases to be filed or prosecuted. It was requested that the causes of the mistakes be explained, according to an official agenda available at the meeting, but no further details were given.

In addition to this, the People’s Supreme Prosecutor was also asked to explain the methods used to monitor prisoners sentenced to terms of imprisonment.

The committee asked the Ministry of Justice to deliver a brief about the situation conc erning the abuse of power by law enforcers, meting out punishments in excess of those stipulated by the courts, as well as the double standards which are known to be practised.

In addition, the ministry was asked to provide an overall picture of the nature of how the court’s judgments are enforced.

The Ministry of Public Security was asked to provide a brief on the performance of investigating officers in relation to the detention, capture and temporary release of prisoners for treatment purposes.

Meanwhile, the standing committee asked the People’s Supreme Court to highlight any outstanding issues in relation to the court’s judgments.

Leaders of the four law enforcement bodies and the committee members were attending a meeting in the run up to the NA’s fifth ordinary session which is scheduled to take place early next month. Sessions are convened biannually.

Over the last few weeks, the parliament’s standing committee has held several meetings with various parties in the lead up to the Assembly’s upcoming debate session.

Last week, the committee met with the State Audit Organisation, when they heard reports concerning that body’s auditing performance.

Earlier, the committee met with the government cabinet when they put many important issues on the table before submitting them for intensive debate at the July session.

The issues tabled included the draft socio-economic development plan for the last six months of this fiscal year, the draft for next fiscal year as well as the progress made toward and challenges faced in attaining the Millennium Development Goals.

In addition, seven draft laws are scheduled for debate at next month’s session. These are three newly-drafted laws and four draft amendments to laws. The three newly-drafted laws are the Law on the Lao Women’s Union, Law on Science and Technology and Law on Social Insurance. The four draft amendments concern the Law on Food, Law on Labour Management, Law on Enterprise and Law on Tourism.

Source: Vientiane Times
June 26, 2013