The Chamber of the Senate approved this Wednesday and dispatched into law the project that sanctions the conspiracy to commit the crime of homicide qualified by prize, remunerative promise or profit motive. This, within the framework of the security agenda agreed between the Government and Congress.
Specifically, the Senate unanimously approved the report of the mixed commission, an instance that settled the differences between the Chamber of Deputies and the Upper House.
The mixed commission supported that the crime of contract killing itself is already punishable. The senator Jose Miguel Insulza (PS) explained that “it is perfectly covered in the Penal Code and more efficient specific regulations,” states a statement from the Senate.
The project
The text advances in specific sanctions when the assassination is committed in a context of conspiracy, and specifies when the crime is committed “for profit”, for carrying it out “for economic benefit or of another nature for one’s own benefit or that of a third party”.
This will be punished with a penalty ranging from 15 years and one day to 20 years to life imprisonment (higher prison in its maximum degree).
In addition, “whoever conspires to commit the crime of qualified homicide (…) will be punished with the penalty of minor imprisonment in its maximum degree”; that is, between three years and one day to five years.
If the conduct described is committed against a judge, prosecutor, public criminal defender, or police, it will be punished with a sentence ranging from three years and one day to 10 years (minor prison in its maximum degree to major prison in its minimum degree).
