A draft law that seeks to protect the sexual integrity and indemnity of minors and modifies the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and Law 69 of 2007 was presented to the plenary session of the National Assembly by the deputy of the Independent Vamos Party, Janine Prado.
According to Congresswoman Prado, in recent years the Public Prosecutor’s Office has registered an increase in complaints filed for crimes against sexual integrity in the country, especially in the province of Veraguas, where 68% of the investigations opened for this type of crime involve children, adolescents and people with disabilities, particularly in districts such as Santa Fé and Las Palmas.
One of the important modifications of this legislative proposal is the increase in sentences from 20 to 28 years in the chapter on sexual indemnity, when the victim is under 14 years of age, is a person with a disability, the act is committed through deception, violence or intimidation, when the perpetrator is a relative of the victim by consanguinity, affinity, his or her guardian or a person involved in his or her upbringing, when the victim is pregnant, and when the rape is committed by a person knowingly carrying an incurable sexually transmitted disease or the acquired immunodeficiency virus.
The legislative initiative establishes changes to article 65 of the Penal Code, such as: “Community work will not be applied when it concerns persons sanctioned for a crime against sexual integrity and indemnity to the detriment of a minor or a person with a disability.”
Furthermore, it is stipulated that “the agreement made between the Public Prosecutor and the Accused must contain, before being presented to the Guarantee Judge, the opinion of the victim, or of his legal representative in the case of minors, in order to guarantee that his fundamental guarantees are not ignored, violated or undermined, specifically those provided for in articles 20 and 80 of this (Criminal) Code. The Public Prosecutor must make great efforts to contact the victim and comply with the provisions set forth above. If effective communication with him is not possible, this must be stated in the agreement.”
If, once the agreement has been formalized, it is proven that the person benefiting from this criminal figure (agreement) gave false information or omitted relevant data, the sentence agreement or effective collaboration granted will be revoked and a new criminal case will be initiated.
