In a special session from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., the Chamber of Deputies and Deputies began the long day that it will live this Tuesday, where it will vote on a battery of a total of five bills related to public safety. The foregoing, after the murder of the second sergeant of the Carabineros, Rita Olivares. The session began with a minute of silence in her honor.
In the first place, the bill that modifies the Criminal Code was discussed to aggravate the penalties for the crime of kidnapping when the detention or confinement lasts for more than 48 hours, an initiative presented by the Executive on December 12 -along with other measures – and which came with a positive report from the House Constitution Committee. The measure gained broad support after being approved by 143 votes in favour, none against and no abstentions.
The Minister of the Interior, Carolina Tohá, reported on the increase in the crime of kidnapping in the country. From 2021 to 2022, the illegal increased by 79%, while compared to 2019 it grew by 51%. Of course, she specified that “since 2019 we have not had kidnappings that are associated with homicides, rape or serious injuries.
Later, they proceeded with the discussion of the initiative that seeks to toughen the regulation of weapons in Chile (Law 17,798), and that increases the penalty for the crime of carrying weapons in highly crowded places. The initiative, which had great urgency on the part of the Government, was endorsed transversally, by obtaining 147 votes in favor, without abstentions or votes against.
The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Vlado Mirosevic (PL), stated that “there are many artificial fights and many divisions of which people are tired. That is why the signal we have given this week is important. A concrete issue. Seven projects bills are going to be voted on this week, from left to right in an agreement to hold an extraordinary session and that this move forward as quickly as possible”.
“We have already coordinated with the Senate and also with La Moneda so that this is a national agreement. We may have a difference in other things but in this we need a national agreement,” added Mirosevic.
After a recess, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., and continuing with the schedule established by the Corporation’s Board, two other projects will be voted on, which were also entered by the Executive on December 12, 2022. The that seeks to modify the Penal Code to penalize the crime of hit men, and also, the measure to classify the crime of extortion and provide greater tools to Gendarmerie officials in terms of investigation of possible crimes in prisons.
Subsequently, the text that establishes the privileged legitimate defense in actions related to the exercise of the police function will be debated, an initiative better known as the “Sergeant Retamal Law”.
For tomorrow, Wednesday, the other project that is expected to be voted on is the one entered -through a parliamentary motion- by former DC deputy Joanna Pérez, who seeks to modify Law 20,931 to expand the powers of the police in matters of immigration control. The measure was entered on August 10 of last year, and is still in its first constitutional process.
The last proposal to be discussed will be the so-called “Naín II Law”, an initiative that increases the penalties for crimes committed against all those officers of the Carabineros, PDI and Gendarmerie. The report is pending from the Citizen Security Commission, which will address it during this day.
