QUESTION: I filed a complaint against a person in Qatar and the case went to court after public prosecution. And he admitted his guilt. I followed up the case until the judgment was issued. The accused received his punishment too. But he is understood to be freely staying in the country despite the sentence. On enquiry, I have learned from the court of appeal that his punishment has been suspended. Then where is justice for me?OS, DohaANSWER: As per Article 79 of penal laws, when rendering a judgment for an offence bearing imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or a fine, the court may order the suspension of the execution of the penalty, considering the morals of the convicted, his past, age or the circumstances in which the offence was perpetrated lead one to believe that he shall not perpetrate another offence.Article 80 stipulates that the suspension of the execution of the penalty shall last three years as from the day when the judgment becomes definitive. If the period elapses without rendering a judgment bearing annulment of the suspension of the execution, the judgment bearing the penalty shall be considered as inexistent. The suspension of execution may be annulled in the two following cases: where a judgment bearing imprisonment is rendered against the convicted for more than three months in an intentional offence perpetrated during the period of suspension or before and court ordered the suspension without knowing the judgment or if it appears that a judgment of imprisonment for a period of more than three months in an intentional crime was rendered before ordering the suspension of execution. Fee exemptionfor litigationsQ: Do the Qatari courts provide exemption for fees in litigations other than labour issues? If so, what is the procedure and who are eligible for such an exemption as per law? I have to file a case but I do not have money to be paid as fee to the court. WD, DohaA: As per Article 552 of civil and commercial procedure law, a request for exemption from payment of fees shall be submitted to the registry of the competent court. The court shall fix a session for hearing such request, the other litigants shall be served with notice of such hearing at least three days’ notice. The court shall decide on the request after examination of the papers and documents submitted by the applicant and examination of the statements of litigants present and the representative of the registry and others whose opinion is deemed appropriate in this respect. If a party proves to be unable to pay the judicial fees, he shall be exempted wholly or partially from payment. Exemption shall include fees of judicial papers, execution fees, expenses of judicial notices and other expenses borne by the litigants.Maintenance ofleased propertyQ: We are engaged in real estate business and we have leased a property to a person at our sponsor’s request. We have not received any security deposit from him. Until March, the lessee had been paying the rent regularly but after that he stopped. We served him a notice to vacate the premises. He refuses to undertake any proper maintenance of the building and to vacate it. As the contract doesn’t refer to maintenance, who is responsible for it? Without any agreement, shall we claim the amount for damages on the property? LK, Doha A: According to Article 615, the lessee shall be bound to carry out the minor repairs required by the normal use of the leased property. The lessee shall be bound to restitute the leased property in the condition in which it was at the time he took delivery thereof, subject to loss or deterioration due to a cause not attributed to him. If no agreement in writing setting out particulars of the property was drawn up at the time of delivery, the lessee is presumed, subject to proof to the contrary, to have received the property in good condition. The costs of restitution of the leased property shall be incurred by the lessee unless the agreement or prevailing custom otherwise provides. Upon the expiration or termination of the lease, the lessee shall restitute the leased property. If he retains it unlawfully, he must pay compensation to the lessor based on the rental value of the property and of the damage suffered by the lessor.Entry and exit lawsQ: I had an employment visa. My plan was to establish a new company in Doha. However, I dropped the plans and returned to my home country, almost six months ago. Now I want to come back to Qatar and the sponsor has agreed to co-operate. Please advice. VH, DohaA: Employment visas are automatically cancelled if the employee stays out of the country continuously for more than six months. However, as per entry and exit laws (Article 13 of Law No 4 of 2009 / Article14 of Law No 21 of 2015), workers holding residence permit can stay outside the country for more than six months, provided they seek the permission of the authorities concerned either in advance or later by paying a fee. But when they come back, their RP must be valid for at least 60 days.