CHAPTER IV PARLIAMENT
PART 2 POWERS AND PROCEDURE OF PARLIAMENT
FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN PROCEEDINGS OF PARLIAMENT.
58.-
1. Without prejudice to any provision made by Parliament relating to the powers, privileges and immunities of Parliament and its committees, or the privileges and immunities of the members and officers of either House of Parliament and of other persons concerned in the business of Parliament or its committees, no civil or criminal proceedings may be instituted against any member of either House of Parliament for words spoken before, or written in a report to, the House of Parliament of which he is a member or a committee thereof or any joint committee of the Senate and the House or by reason of any matter or thing brought by him therein by petition, bill, resolution, motion or otherwise.
1. This Statute shall apply equally to all persons without any distinction based on official capacity. In particular, official capacity as a Head of State or Government, a member of a Government or parliament, an elected representative or a government official shall in no case exempt a person from criminal responsibility under this Statute, nor shall it, in and of itself, constitute a ground for reduction of sentence.
2. Immunities or special procedural rules which may attach to the official capacity of a person, whether under national or international law, shall not bar the Court from exercising its jurisdiction over such a person.