The Attorney General of the Republic, Tarek William Saab, revealed that the Public Ministry has recorded a total of 1,024 cases of pedophilia during the course of this year.
The Prosecutor reported that a total of 1,426 aggressors have been charged for this crime, 1,831 have been charged and 752 convictions have been obtained. In this regard, he specified that the average sentence ranges “between 25 and 30 years in prison.”
“We have talked about the issue of parents and being alert. It is necessary to train with reliable sources, have channels of communication with children and adolescents, generate bonds of trust, teach them rules of self-care and that they have the right to say no to any act that could come from an adult and generate discomfort; in addition to supervising the use of social networks, ”said Saab as the main prevention measures.
He highlighted the risk that social networks represent, “because pedophiles in most cases hide their true identity. They can even be very close to the family or to the environment, as a neighbor or have some kinship”.
Proposal to Parliament
The Attorney General of the Republic announced that the Public Ministry is working on a project for the reform of the Organic Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents, highlights the agency’s press release.
“I consider that criminal responsibility for a 14-year-old adolescent; when you add up all the time that he could remain deprived of liberty and it reaches 10 years, to me personally it seems little. I think that for crimes that could end in homicides you cannot let that person go free (…), there should be a debate there, “said the senior official.
In addition, it questioned the protection of identity, provided for in the law, for those adolescents between 14 and 17 years old who incur in serious punishable acts: “They can be minors to kill their parents (…) for their own will. They know well what they are doing. The penalty must be stronger because organized gangs capture them to turn them into serial hit men”, observed Saab.
On this aspect, the highest representative of the Public Ministry pointed out that “the human rights and dignity of the people, the community and society must be seen and recorded as provided for in the Constitution. It is an interesting debate that I am proposing. Let’s see what comes out of there,” he commented.
criminal news and social networks
Similarly, the Attorney General highlighted the effectiveness of the Situation Room installed by the Public Ministry to monitor, attend to and channel complaints made by users on social networks. “It is effective and becomes crime news. That is why I say that police officers must be recorded in the commission of a punishable act.”
On the issue of human rights in the country, Saab recalled that in the last five years 1,405 security officials and 60 collaborators have been charged. In addition, 1,546 officials and 81 civilians were charged; 769 officials and 69 civilians were deprived of liberty for violating fundamental guarantees. For these facts, 358 convictions were obtained.
“We have made important progress that cannot be undermined. There is greater awareness among judges, prosecutors and police to punish those who commit these crimes. We will not allow mafias or uniformed criminals to exist within the police. The full weight of the law must exist against them”, analyzed Saab.
