Decree No. 89-2016 Reforms to the Special Law on Judicial Organs Territorial Jurisdiction

This decree reforms the law creating specialized courts with national jurisdiction to try corruption, extortion, and organized crime offenses. It adds extortion as a nationally competent crime and expands the definition of organized criminal groups to include crimes against public administration and the economy. It benefits society by strengthening prosecution of these serious crimes that harm national development.

Whereas corruption undermines the legitimacy of public institutions, harms society, moral order and justice, as well as the integral development of peoples.

Whereas the high levels of corruption at the national level bring about social decomposition, delays in the country's development, increases in insecurity levels, and a decrease in national and foreign investment. Likewise, it is urgent to execute actions that reduce corruption and ensure that such cases do not go unpunished.

Whereas the Supreme Court of Justice, through Agreement No. 1-2016, created the Trial Courts, the Penal Appellate Tribunals, and the Appellate Court of Criminal Law with National Jurisdiction in Matters of Corruption, which was published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta on May 12, 2016.

Whereas the Supreme Court of Justice, through Agreement No. 2-2016, created the Trial Courts, the Penal Appellate Tribunals, and the Appellate Court of Criminal Law with National Jurisdiction in Matters of Extortion, which was published in the Official Gazette La Gaceta on May 12, 2016.

Whereas in accordance with Article 205, Attribution 1) of the Constitution of the Republic, it is within the power of the National Congress to: create, enact, interpret, reform, and repeal laws.

Whereas the crime of extortion has evolved into more complex and systematic forms; the harm it produces is ultimately transferred to families, small and medium enterprises, and various sectors of national life; the proceeds obtained from this criminal activity produce not only the illicit enrichment of members of criminal organizations, but are also used for their expansion and strengthening, to the detriment of the honest work of the population. Likewise, the especially violent acts of retaliation for non-payment of the amounts demanded by extortioners and the lack of efficient and adequate mechanisms that guarantee the security of victims, produces enormous fear in those extorted, who find themselves forced, on one hand, to comply with the demands of criminals and, on the other, to refrain from cooperating with judicial operators, placing themselves, for these reasons, in a condition of vulnerability.