diff --git a/efel/cppcore/CMakeLists.txt b/efel/cppcore/CMakeLists.txt
index 053cb3bc..bbd8e61c 100644
--- a/efel/cppcore/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/efel/cppcore/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -40,6 +40,6 @@ add_library(efel SHARED ${FEATURESRCS})
 install(TARGETS efel LIBRARY DESTINATION lib)
 
 install(FILES efel.h cfeature.h FillFptrTable.h LibV1.h LibV2.h LibV3.h
-    LibV5.h mapoperations.h Utils.h DependencyTree.h eFELLogger.h
+    LibV5.h mapoperations.h Utils.h DependencyTree.h eFELLogger.h EfelExceptions.h
     types.h
     DESTINATION include)
diff --git a/efel/cppcore/EfelExceptions.h b/efel/cppcore/EfelExceptions.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ac7c85c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/efel/cppcore/EfelExceptions.h
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#ifndef EFEL_EXCEPTIONS_H
+#define EFEL_EXCEPTIONS_H
+
+#include <stdexcept>
+
+// Define the custom exception class
+class EfelAssertionError : public std::runtime_error {
+public:
+  explicit EfelAssertionError(const std::string& message) : std::runtime_error(message) {}
+};
+
+#endif // EFEL_EXCEPTIONS_H
diff --git a/efel/cppcore/Utils.h b/efel/cppcore/Utils.h
index 5e59ba6a..c064cb6a 100644
--- a/efel/cppcore/Utils.h
+++ b/efel/cppcore/Utils.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 #include <numeric>
 #include <vector>
 #include <utility>
+#include "EfelExceptions.h"
 
 using std::vector;
 
@@ -85,8 +86,9 @@ inline void
 efel_assert(bool assertion, const char *message, const char *file, const int line)
 {
   if(!assertion){
-    printf("Assertion fired(%s:%d): %s\n", file, line, message);
-    exit(-1);
+    using std::string, std::to_string;
+    string errorMsg = "Assertion fired(" + string(file) + ":" + to_string(line) + "): " + string(message);
+    throw EfelAssertionError(errorMsg);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/efel/cppcore/cppcore.cpp b/efel/cppcore/cppcore.cpp
index e9a6471a..196057d4 100644
--- a/efel/cppcore/cppcore.cpp
+++ b/efel/cppcore/cppcore.cpp
@@ -118,8 +118,7 @@ _getfeature(PyObject* self, PyObject* args, const string &input_type) {
   }
 
   string feature_type;
-  try
-  {
+  try {
     feature_type = pFeature->featuretype(string(feature_name));
   }
   catch(const std::runtime_error& e)
@@ -146,10 +145,18 @@ _getfeature(PyObject* self, PyObject* args, const string &input_type) {
       return Py_BuildValue("i", return_value);
     }
   }
+  catch(EfelAssertionError& e) {  // more specialised exception
+    PyErr_SetString(PyExc_AssertionError, e.what());
+    return NULL;
+  }
   catch(const std::runtime_error& e) {
     PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, e.what());
     return NULL;
   }
+  catch(...) {
+    PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, "Unknown error");
+    return NULL;
+  }
 }