This Law contains 8 Parts and 96 Articles.
The Parts are the following:
- General Principles
- Rights and Obligations of Participants in Criminal Proceedings
- Investigation-Interrogation of Criminal Cases
- Case Proceeding at the Court of First Instance
- Case Proceedings at the Court of Recession
- Enforcement of a Court Judgment
- Court Measures for Medical treatment
- Monitoring Court Decisions and Judgments which are Absolutely Effective
Article 1: Function of the Criminal Process
The criminal process has the function of the urgent search for wrongful acts and to ensure the legitimate application of the law to offenders, in not allowing offenders to escape punishment and seeking to avoid punishing those who are innocent. The criminal process is aimed at the goal of increasing justice, at dispatching and Preventing wrongdoing, and in educating and training citizens to strictly adhere to and to be bound by the law.
Article 2: The necessity of the Criminal Process
In the case that officials are investing or interrogating or the public prosecutor has found evidence of an offence, an investigation or interrogation must be commenced within the boundaries of their authority. There must be usage of measures provided for in the law in order to search for offences and offenders and then send such offender to the courts for sentencing according to the law.
This law was replaced by the Criminal Procedure Law of 2004.
Laos-Criminal Procedure Law-1990-eng (full text in English, PDF)