Criminal
The Spanish Código Penal of 1963 as received, with modern additions
Criminal law derives from the Spanish Penal Code applicable at independence, amended by national statutes on torture, trafficking and money laundering. Military courts have historically tried offences against the state.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Ordinary courts try offences; the Tribunal Supremo reviews.
- Deadline — Detention before presentation to a judge: 72 hours
- Deadline — Appeal: within the statutory period from sentence
Governing law
- Código PenalSpanish code of 1963 as received and amended
- Ley n° 6/2006 de prevención y sanción de la tortura
- Ley Orgánica del Poder Judicial
In practice
Because the received Spanish code has never been comprehensively replaced, Equatoguinean criminal law is one of the few African systems where the operative text is a mid-century Spanish statute, and locating current amendments is correspondingly difficult.