Criminal law in Djibouti

Djibouti's criminal-law framework is based mainly on Loi n°59/AN/94 Code pénal and Loi n°60/AN/94 Code de procédure pénale. Official texts reviewed in 2026 continued to cite these codes. A reform was announced in 2023, but no replacement code was evidenced in the reviewed sources. Special laws supplement the codes for areas such as trafficking, terrorism, corruption, traffic and digital offences. French is the main language of the legal sources and proceedings. The legality principle means that an act can be punished only under a law that applied when the act occurred, and criminal provisions receive strict interpretation. The law distinguishes crimes, délits and contraventions. Criminal responsibility normally depends on intent, while negligence, lack of care or deliberate endangerment creates responsibility only where legislation provides for it. Individuals answer for their own conduct. A company or another legal person can be liable when a law allows it and an organ or representative commits the offence on its behalf and for its account. Djibouti's criminal law applies territorially and can also apply outside the country in cases involving a Djiboutian offender or victim. The Constitution protects equality, life, liberty, security, physical integrity, the presumption of innocence, defence rights and access to a lawyer at every stage of proceedings. It prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman, degrading or humiliating treatment. A detained person may request a doctor of their choice, and prison admission requires a judicial warrant. Djibouti abolished the death penalty through the 2010 constitutional reform. A complaint or report can be submitted to the police judiciaire, the Police nationale, the Gendarmerie, the Force Nationale de Sécurité or the Procureur de la République. An Officier de police judiciaire, or OPJ, is a qualified gendarmerie or police officer who can receive complaints, conduct preliminary investigations and handle flagrante procedures before sending a report to the Procureur. An Agent de police judiciaire, or APJ, assists with investigative work but cannot independently order garde à vue or receive a delegation from a juge d'instruction. In a preliminary investigation, a search or seizure generally requires express written consent, although special laws can provide different rules. Trafficking investigations can permit searches during the day or night and the use of electronic evidence. An OPJ may hold a person in garde à vue for up to 48 hours from the time of arrest. The ministère public can grant a written extension of 48 hours, and a further 24 hours can apply when the arrest occurs outside the seat of a magistrate. The reasons for detention, its start and end times and the required register entries must be recorded. The person must receive humane treatment, may request a doctor and may choose a lawyer or receive one appointed by the authorities. The lawyer can have a confidential meeting lasting up to 30 minutes before the action publique begins. During an extension, a family member or a mandated lawyer can request that the detained person be brought before the authorities. A juge d'instruction must investigate crimes and may investigate certain délits. The judge can issue mandates for appearance, bringing a person before the court, deposit or arrest. Pre-trial detention is available for a crime or for a délit carrying at least one year of imprisonment. The stated reasons can include protecting evidence, preventing influence over witnesses or victims, stopping collusion, protecting public order, preventing repeated offending and ensuring that the accused remains available. Contrôle judiciaire can serve as an alternative. The applicable duration depends on the threatened sentence and the person's residence, so the available sources do not support one general duration forecast. The Tribunal de Première Instance handles correctional matters and simple police matters and also includes the juge d'instruction and the judge for children. The Cour d'Appel hears appeals in correctional and simple police matters and includes the chambre d'accusation and chambre pour mineurs. The Cour criminelle is not permanent and hears crimes with a president of the Cour d'Appel, two conseillers and four jurors. The Cour Suprême, through its Chambre criminelle, reviews legal errors on cassation and does not rehear the facts. Available remedies include opposition, appel, cassation and révision. A crime requires an information investigation, while some traffic or insurance contraventions can proceed through a fixed-fine procedure. Crimes can carry life imprisonment or a fixed term of at least five years, with maximum terms of 10, 15 or 20 years depending on the provision. Délits can lead to imprisonment, a fine or travail d'intérêt général, meaning community service. The imprisonment scale includes maximum terms of six months, one, two, three, five or ten years. Community service ranges from 50 to 300 hours and must be completed within a maximum of two years. Contraventions can carry one day to one month of imprisonment or a fine. Additional measures can include rights, professional or residence bans, weapons or driving-licence measures, confiscation, closure of a company, exclusion from public contracts and publication of the judgment. A legal person can receive a fine of up to five times the individual maximum and other measures allowed by law. Recidivism can double the maximum sentence. The Penal Code covers offences against state and public security, violence and killing, sexual integrity, liberty, dignity, family and children, property, trust and documents, corruption, drugs, the environment and traffic. The law on trafficking in persons provides five to ten years of imprisonment and ten to twenty years for aggravated cases. Illicit migrant smuggling carries two to five years. Terrorism and other serious offences are governed in part by Loi n°111/AN/11, amended in 2024. Corruption offences are also addressed by Loi n°103/AN/24. Djibouti's traffic code of 1980, as amended in 2010, classifies traffic offences into five categories. The categories carry fines of 1,000 to 6,000 FDJ, 6,000 to 36,000 FDJ, 36,000 to 300,000 FDJ, 300,000 to 2,000,000 FDJ and 2,000,000 to 10,000,000 FDJ respectively. Some categories also carry imprisonment. The blood-alcohol limit is 0.80 g/L. Driving under the influence is a category-three offence, rising to category four for a repeat offence within 12 months. Refusing a medical test is also punishable. Hit-and-run is a category-four offence, and driving without a valid licence is a category-three offence. An administrative licence suspension can last up to one year, while a death or injury caused in a traffic incident can also trigger Penal Code charges. The 2025 Code du Numérique, Livre 6, treats cybercrime as an offence committed through or against an information system. Fraudulent access to an information system or an attempt can lead to up to three years of imprisonment and a fine of up to 10,000,000 DJF. Unlawful remaining in a system carries the same maximum framework. Other offences concern data or system integrity, identity, personal data, online intellectual property and dangerous digital content. Rules on attempts, complicity, receiving stolen property, legal persons and additional measures from the Penal Code can also apply. The ANC is a public authority under the Presidency and the DGSN for cybersecurity, not a criminal court. ARMD and sworn agents can carry out their specialised controls, prepare reports and refer matters to the Procureur. The Ministère public conducts the action publique. A victim who suffered direct harm can bring an action civile and seek restitution or damages. The victim can constitute partie civile before a juge d'instruction or a court. Approved associations that meet the required five-year duration can act in cases involving female genital mutilation or sexual violence under the statutory conditions. Victims of trafficking benefit from special investigative rules, and coercive or abusive consent does not remove the trafficking offence. The reviewed sources do not establish a separate general national victim-support or compensation institution. A person under 18 is a minor under the Code de protection juridique des mineurs of 2015. A child under 13 cannot be placed in garde à vue. A person aged 13 or more may be held only for a serious offence when consistent evidence exists, with Procureur approval and control, for 20 hours plus a possible ten-hour extension. The Procureur, juge des enfants and parents or guardian must be informed immediately. The minor must receive information about the allegation, access to counsel, parental presence and medical care, and must be separated from adults. Cases may be heard by the juge des enfants, the chambre spéciale des mineurs or the cour criminelle pour mineurs. Detention is a last resort and must be separate; for a crime it can last no more than six months. Hearings are not public and the minor's identity and case information receive protection. A minor's sentence cannot exceed half the adult sentence, and an adult life sentence becomes ten to fifteen years when a minor is found capable of understanding the act. A defence lawyer is appointed when the minor lacks means. Mediation is available only for délits carrying a maximum of one year and not for crimes. The limitation period is ten years for crimes, three years for délits and one year for contraventions. The sources do not establish one general maximum duration for criminal proceedings. Criminal prosecution is generally state-funded, and aide judiciaire can cover a lawyer and certain public officials after a resources assessment. A stated guideline uses average monthly resources below 100,000 FDJ, or below 150,000 FDJ for a person supporting three dependent children. Minors, people living with HIV/AIDS and victims of intentional killing or injury seeking civil action do not undergo the means test. State remuneration includes 50,000 FDJ for Cour criminelle or court-appointed work and 75,000 FDJ for the Tribunal de Première Instance and Cour Suprême. No reliable general tariff was established for private lawyer fees or other charges.