Capítulo III. De las penas

For the crimes indicated in this law, the principal penalties for natural persons are:

a)Death.

b)Imprisonment.

c)Fine.

d)Absolute or special disqualification.

e)Confiscation, loss or destruction of the objects derived from the crime and of the instruments used for its commission, unless they belong to a third party not liable for the act, or good faith has intervened.

f)Expulsion of foreigners from the national territory.

g)Payment of costs and procedural expenses.

h)Publication of the conviction judgment.

The penalties provided in this law for legal persons are the following:

a)Fine.

b)Cancellation of legal personality.

c)Total or partial suspension of activities.

d)Confiscation, loss or destruction of the objects derived from the crime and of the instruments used for its commission.

e)Payment of costs and procedural expenses.

f)Publication of the judgment.

Those sentenced to the fine who do not make it effective within the legal term, or who fail to make the installment payments for its due payment, shall serve their sentence with deprivation of liberty, the time being regulated at between Q. 5.00 and Q. 100.00 per day, according to the nature of the act and the amount of the drug seized. When a penalty of imprisonment has also been imposed, the conversion shall begin upon completion thereof; no one may, however, serve more than thirty years of imprisonment.

The convicted person may, at any time, pay the fine, deducting the corresponding portion of the imprisonment suffered. If upon conclusion of the penalty of imprisonment the convicted person has observed good conduct, the competent judge may grant the conditional suspension of the penalty of fine. The request shall be processed by way of incidental proceedings.

The penalties established in Articles 36, 39, 43, 44, 49, 50 and 51 of this law may be commuted when the imprisonment does not exceed five years. The commutation shall be regulated between a minimum of Q.5.00 daily and a maximum of Q.100.00 for each day, taking into account the circumstances of the act, the economic conditions of the convicted person and the amount of the objects of the crime seized.

In cases in which a person is sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding three years, conditional suspension of compliance with the penalties imposed may be granted, without prejudice to compliance with the security measures and the civil liabilities imposed. This benefit shall apply when, due to the special characteristics of the act or of the personality of the convicted person, execution of the penalty would be inadvisable or useless. This provision shall not apply if the judgment has already been reduced pursuant to Article 22 of this Law.

In granting the benefit, the judge may impose on the convicted person one or more of the following rules of conduct, accompanied, at the judge's discretion, by the telematic control device:

a)To reside or not to reside in a specified place.

b)Prohibition on frequenting certain places or persons.

c)To abstain from using narcotics and abusing alcoholic beverages.

d)To begin and complete primary schooling, if not already completed, to learn a profession and occupational courses or to pursue training at the place or institution determined by the tribunal.

e)To undergo medical or psychological treatment, if necessary.

The judge shall establish in the sentence the specific modalities of execution and the period of validity of the rules imposed, which may not exceed five (5) years.

The probation period of the conditional suspension shall be no less than two (2) years nor more than four (4).

If the convicted person unjustifiably departs from the imposed rules of conduct or commits an intentional crime within the probation period, the suspension shall be revoked and the convicted person shall serve the remainder of the penalty.

Forfeiture or confiscation consists of the loss in favor of the State of the instruments of the crime, which shall be ordered in a conviction or acquittal judgment.

The competent judge or tribunal shall likewise order forfeiture or confiscation in the decisions declaring default, extinction of criminal prosecution, dismissal of proceedings or provisional closure, an opportunity criterion in applicable cases, or in cases where the accused is unknown or cannot be identified, or has unjustifiably evaded criminal prosecution, provided there is sufficient information that the property or proceeds constitute instruments of the crime, unless it is reliably shown within the proceedings that the instruments of the crime belong to a third party in good faith.

Except as provided in Article 57 of this Law, confiscated property of lawful commerce shall be sold and the proceeds of the sale shall increase the private funds of the Judicial Branch, but shall be allocated to its activities to combat and prevent the crimes referred to in this Law.

The preceding paragraphs of this article shall apply only when the competent tribunal declares in a judgment that extinction of ownership is not appropriate, in the manner provided in the law on the matter, which takes precedence over this article.

. Judicial recognition, scientific analysis and destruction of drugs. When seizures or confiscation of drugs, narcotics, prohibited or controlled chemical substances, psychotropics or precursors are carried out, in addition to the presumptive field evidence, after concluding the police or prosecutorial operations and the transfer, the judicial recognition, the taking of samples and the scientific analysis by an expert of INACIF shall immediately proceed, for the purpose of establishing the quantity, weight, purity and other characteristics thereof as required by the prosecutorial agent or as deemed appropriate by the expert. The expert order for the analysis and the judicial recognition shall be requested by the prosecutorial agent or assistant prosecutorial agent directly from the Incinerator Judge. The analysis shall be performed on a scientifically reasonable sample and the proceeding shall have the status of advance evidence.

Under the responsibility of the Incinerator Judge, the scientific analysis proceeding shall be duly documented and the respective record shall be signed by all participants, who shall be fully identified. The expert's opinion shall be issued orally in the same proceeding, pursuant to the Code of Criminal Procedure and shall be set down in the record. The original of the record shall be kept by the Public Prosecutor's Office and shall be offered, incorporated and assessed at any stage of the proceedings without need for subsequent ratification, except for the right of the parties to propose the statement of the expert at trial. Any documentation produced during the proceeding shall be attached to the original record, which shall be duly individualized for the conduct of the judicial recognition and analysis. If necessary, the duplicate may substitute for the original.

In the same scientific analysis proceeding, the Incinerator Judge shall order the National Civil Police to destroy, eliminate or render unusable the drug, narcotic, prohibited or controlled chemical substance, psychotropic or precursor, which, if possible, shall be carried out immediately or within a time limit of no more than ten days counted from the date of the request, in accordance with the provisions of the Agreement of the Supreme Court of Justice and the guidelines of the Environmental and Health Guide, prepared by the respective departments of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, which indicate the measures to protect health or the environment. The original of the record of the proceeding of destruction, elimination or rendering unusable shall be kept by the Public Prosecutor's Office for the relevant procedural purposes.

If the destruction, elimination or rendering unusable has not been carried out immediately, the Incinerator Judge shall again order the experts to verify the characteristics and nature of the drugs, narcotics, prohibited or controlled chemical substances, psychotropics or precursors subject to the order. Immediately thereafter their destruction shall be ordered and carried out. At this act, in the presence of the Incinerator Judge, the parties may be present, and obligatorily the Public Prosecutor's Office, the police agents responsible for the safekeeping and custody and a delegate of the Executive Secretariat of the Commission Against Addictions and Illicit Drug Trafficking -SECCATID-, for which purpose they shall be duly summoned by the legally permitted means, in whose presence the proceeding shall take place on the day, time and place previously designated. The summons of the parties shall be ensured with due advance notice, under the responsibility of the Incinerator Judge. The respective record shall be signed by all those appearing.

In the case of drug plantations, the Public Prosecutor's Office may authorize their destruction at the same place, based on the guidelines of the Environmental and Health Guide, taking care to document the finding, the characteristics, nature, quantity and all information that serves for proof of the crime and of the destruction. For such purposes, it shall preserve a reasonable quantity as a sample and proof of the crime. With the sample, its judicial recognition, analysis and its destruction shall proceed in the manners provided for in this article. In exceptional cases in which the Public Prosecutor's Office due to justified impediment cannot be present, the National Civil Police may destroy the drug plantations following the guidelines of the Environmental and Health Guide, documenting in writing and by video recording the proceeding, the finding, the destruction, the collection and the packaging of sufficient samples, as well as the characteristics, nature, quantity of the plants and all information that is important for the investigation, which it shall bring to the immediate knowledge of the Public Prosecutor's Office, placing at its disposal the corresponding evidence, the samples and seeds collected, and the corresponding scientific opinion. If there are apprehended persons, in addition to informing the Public Prosecutor's Office, it shall inform the competent judge within the legally established time limit and manner. The record shall be signed by the police officer or agent responsible for the proceeding, as well as by each of those in charge of each police group.

From their seizure and until before their destruction, the drugs, narcotics, prohibited or controlled chemical substances, psychotropics or precursors shall remain under the custody of the police forces and shall be transferred to the warehouse or designated places of the National Civil Police, whose authorities shall be responsible for their safekeeping and custody, and shall keep a detailed register of the stock, handling, entries and deliveries thereof, fully identifying the files of both the National Civil Police and the Public Prosecutor's Office. In the same register the persons and authorities related to such acts shall be fully identified.

The defense counsel attorney and, in his absence, an attorney of the Institute of Criminal Public Defense shall attend the proceeding or proceedings of recognition, scientific analysis and destruction, elimination or rendering unusable, whose Director shall organize the respective shifts to guarantee their presence and action at any time when required by the Incinerator Judge.

The non-appearance of the defense counsel attorney or of any of the other parties duly summoned by any legally permitted means shall not be grounds for suspension or annulment of the proceedings, expert examinations or hearings regulated in this article, and in all cases of absence of the defense counsel attorney, such cases shall be covered by an attorney of the Institute of Criminal Public Defense with full authority to intervene and to represent the interests of the suspects or accused, as well as to verify the lawfulness thereof.