Title VIII. Of the High Court of Justice
Article 171
A High Court of Justice is instituted.
Article 172
The High Court of Justice is composed of fifteen (15) members including:
- ten (10) Deputies;
two (2) members of the Constitutional Council; three (3) members of the Supreme Court.
The members of the High Court of Justice are elected by their respective peers.
The President is elected by the members of the High Court.
Article 173
The High Court of Justice is competent to judge the President of the Republic and the members of the Government as well as their accomplices in case of high treason.
Any act infringing the republican form, the uniqueness and secularity of the State, the sovereignty, the independence and the integrity of the national territory[,] constitutes a crime of high treason.
The grave and blatant violations of the rights of Man, the misappropriation of public funds, bribery, extortion, drug trafficking and the introduction of toxic or dangerous wastes, for their transit, deposit or storage on the national territory[,] are associated with [assimilés] high treason.
The President is only responsible for acts accomplished in the exercise of his functions in case of high treason.
Article 174
Outside of the cases of high treason, the members of the Government are criminally responsible for their acts before the jurisdiction of common law.
Article 175
The impeachment of the President of the Republic and of the members of the Government is voted, in secret ballot, with the majority of two-thirds (2/3) of the members of the National Assembly.
The President of the Republic and the members of the Government are suspended from their functions in case of impeachment.
In case of condemnation, the President of the Republic is removed from his responsibilities and the ministers from their functions by the High Court of Justice.
Article 176
The High Court of Justice is bound by the definition of crimes and misdemeanors[,] as well as the determination of the resultant penalties[,] of the criminal laws in force at the moment that the acts were committed.
Article 177
An organic law establishes the rules of functioning as well as the procedure followed before the High Court of Justice
