The Discretionary Power of the Criminal Judge in Conviction Based on Evidence

The Algerian legislator has granted the criminal trial judge broad discretionary power in being convinced by the evidence upon which the judgment is based, whether that evidence serves to establish the charge and attribute it to the accused, thereby leading to a conviction, or whether it serves to negate the charge, resulting in an acquittal. The legislator has set specific conditions regarding the evidence upon which the criminal trial judge forms his convic-tion, notably by requiring that the evidence be lawful and discussed in an adversarial manner during court proceed-ings by both parties. Furthermore, the legislator has established guidelines governing the judge's freedom in as-sessing evidence according to his discretionary authority. As a general principle, the judge is granted complete freedom to be convinced by the evidence, with the sole obligation of providing reasoning for the judgment. How-ever, by exception, the legislator has imposed certain restrictions on this discretionary power in the judge's convic-tion based on evidence.