In cybercrime cases, there is often more than one applicable law, depending on whether one chooses the law of the state from which the perpetrator acted or the law of the state in which the result occurs.

And each legal system is more or less repressive with regard to certain criminal phenomena. For the investigator, the tactical question arises as to the choice of the jurisdiction in which the investigation will be conducted and the applicable law.

Thus, Swiss law is very restrictive with respect to the elements of the offences specific to cybercrime (Art. 143 PC, 143bis PC, 144bis PC) or to frauds committed via the Internet (Art. 146 PC and 147 PC), so that convictions on the basis of Swiss law remain rare, when investigations are successful.

During the international conference “Fight against cybercrime: crossed views” organized on November 9, 2022 by the Institute for the Fight against Economic Crime (ILCE) jointly with the Criminology Department of the University Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Mr. Ludovic Tirelli – in his capacity as a lecturer at the ILCE – presented the main correspondences between the Swiss criminal law in the field of cybercrime and the Ivory Coast law, as well as their respective advantages and disadvantages

Conclusion: Where Swiss substantive law is quickly overtaken by cybercrime phenomena and largely ineffective, Ivorian law – based on a law n°2013-451 of 19 June 2013 on the fight against cybercrime capturing a broad spectrum of criminal behavior – is easily applied and constitutes an effective corpus for the fight against cybercrime when the perpetrator acts from the Ivory Coast.

Once this is realized, the success of criminal prosecution depends on perfect police cooperation…

Let’s hear it!

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