Instruction on coordination, oversight, and follow-up of high-complaint, important, and national cases issued

According to the Judiciary’s Media Center, this instruction—titled “Coordination, Oversight, and Follow-up of High-Complaint, Important, and National Cases”—was issued by the Head of the Judiciary.

This instruction was enacted in line with the provisions of the Judiciary’s Transformation and Excellence Document (approved in 2024) with the purpose of ensuring prompt and precise handling of cases of national significance, cases involving a large number of plaintiffs and complainants, as well as cases that—by nature of their subject—are complex or have national and international impact.

In accordance with this instruction, in order to accelerate and refine judicial proceedings and to prevent the emergence of cases falling under this category, a Consultative Council for High-Complaint, Important, and National Cases shall be established. The council will be composed of the First Deputy of the Judiciary (as Chair), the Prosecutor General, the Head of the Judiciary’s Protection and Intelligence Center, and the Head of the Judiciary’s Media Center. Sessions of this council, to be held at least once every three months, may also invite officials directly responsible for specific cases under review.

For supervision of such cases at the level of provincial prosecutors’ offices and courts, a Provincial Consultative Council for High-Complaint, Important, and National Cases shall likewise be established in every province.

According to the provisions of this instruction, the heads of judicial administrations and prosecutors, with regard to cases under this regulation, must undertake actions such as:

• Allocating branches of prosecutors’ offices or first-instance and appellate courts for specialized review of high-complaint, important, and national cases, staffed by expert and experienced judges.
• Managing the process of case assignment to the designated branches.
• Supervising the progress of case handling, particularly regarding trial scheduling.
• Adopting necessary legal measures to expedite and facilitate execution of judgments and compensation of victims, including granting legal concessions such as conditional release under electronic monitoring systems.

According to the instruction, the presiding judge of a branch assigned to handle such cases must, immediately upon receiving and reviewing the case file, undertake actions such as:

• Assessing and ruling on the branch’s jurisdiction or lack thereof to hear the case.
• Reviewing the completeness of case contents and attachments, including petitions, documents, and evidence related to the charges or claims.
• Exercising diligence in scheduling supervision dates.
• Ensuring that expert appointments are made where necessary, with precise definition of the subject matter and deadlines for expert opinions.
• Promptly identifying, seizing, and safeguarding assets and proceeds of crime to facilitate restitution to victims.
• Accelerating the resolution of confiscated property within legal frameworks.
• Determining, with precision, the restitution owed to each individual victim and the corresponding obligations of each convicted party.

The instruction further stipulates that legal actions for prosecuting and trying defendants in high-complaint, important, and national cases must be carried out in such a way that, as far as possible, they do not result in the shutdown or suspension of production and economic units or the unemployment of workers.

Oversight of this instruction’s implementation is assigned to the First Deputy of the Judiciary, who must prepare and submit related reports to the Head of the Judiciary every six months.

This “Instruction on Coordination, Oversight, and Follow-up of High-Complaint, Important, and National Cases” consists of 11 articles and 7 notes, and replaces both the “Instruction on Oversight, Follow-up, and Management of Important Matters and Events” (2022) and the 2020 circular on the necessity of expediting cases with multiple plaintiffs or complainants.