Veronica Zapana S. / La Paz
“Last year, I found out that my daughter’s killer was walking the streets. I told my lawyer and she discovered that he had been released from jail for 24 hours because he was supposed to do a paperwork, ”said María, the mother of a femicide victim.
It is not the only case. According to the president of the Association of Relatives of Victims of Femicides, Estela Quintana, many sentenced for this serious crime enjoy this type of privilege. According to the representative of the sector, many have a series of benefits: access to cell phones, conjugal or sex worker visits and outings for the New Year’s Eve parties, in addition to house arrest and permission to go out to work.
“It is absurd that people who killed have those benefits. His sentence clearly says 30 years in prison without the right to pardon (forgiveness),” said Quintana, who is also a lawyer and aunt of Abigail, an 18-year-old girl who was murdered by her ex-partner, Tadeo TT, 17, in June 2019.
According to Quintana, prisoners access these “short” exits to supposedly do some paperwork or to attend “a medical consultation” in case of illness.
Also, after attending their hearings, some walk with their custodians and enjoy a favorite meal.
Such is the case of the accused of the femicide of Jannet F., Eliot M., who in September 2021 was caught without handcuffs and buying pizzas at a local in Ciudad Satélite de El Alto, while his custodian was waiting for him at the door of the restaurant. The case was reported on social networks. For this reason, almost immediately, other policemen arrived at the scene and took him to his hearing.
For the lawyer of the Free Voices Foundation and legal adviser of the Women of Fire Collective, Mercedes Cortez, another of the privileges that those sentenced for femicide and rape have – like the rest – is access to a cell phone. “Despite the fact that there is a rule and the use of cell phones is prohibited inside prisons, those deprived of liberty continue to use and commit crimes in this way,” she indicated.
According to Cortez, a defendant for attempted femicide escaped from the El Abra prison and it was discovered that he planned everything through his cell phone.
Faced with this situation, the group asked the authorities to install umbrellas or repeater antennas in the prison to prevent the signal from entering. “They did not listen to our proposal,” said the activist.
Cortez explained that feminicides receive visits every day. “In there they are chewing coca, playing cards and going about their normal lives. For us, they go into jail and are on vacation,” she said. “These sentenced receive a parcel per day,” she added.
The jurist regretted that these aggressors have these benefits inside the prisons, while the victims – the children who were orphaned or the women who suffered an attempted femicide – do not have access to free health and do not have money to speed up their processes. judicial.
“Victims who survived crimes seek resources for their treatment. The defendants are not required to pay because according to the law, innocence is presumed until they have a final judgment. It takes between five to six years to arrive in all its instances, ”he said.
Cortez indicated that “at the legal level there is a block of norms, treaties, constitutional rulings and Law 1173 itself that benefits the aggressors.” He added that this legal package “protects their rights above those of the victims, allows impunity or allows those sentenced to 30 years in prison to enjoy freedom. This situation occurs because they annulled number six of article 234 of the Criminal Procedure Code. In addition, with Constitutional Sentence 276/218, they give free rein to all those prosecuted for one or 10 crimes so that their records or other accusations cannot be counted so that they remain in jail. “That is delaying the cases and causing house arrest.”
Quintana added that in accordance with Law 1173, many who are in preventive detention for femicide or rape can access house arrest because they allege that there is not enough evidence. “For this reason, many were released and the cases were suspended,” she explained.
He assured that if the cases reach a sentence, the femicides and rapists have a period of 15 days to appeal. “The judges admit and that delays the final sentence, so they never go to jail,” she added.
Now, according to Quintana, justice operators release the aggressor with medical certificates that report alleged illnesses. Such is the case of Richard Choque, the serial killer and rapist who was arrested a week ago for double femicide. It was the former judge Rafael Alcón, who decided to release him thanks to medical certificates. For this case, today the judge, the social worker, her assistant, the doctor and two lawyers were arrested and have already received a substitute measure.
Prosecutor Johan Muñoz said that for this case the Public Ministry identified a consortium of judges, doctors and lawyers who helped femicides and convicted rapists get out of prison.
The former director of the Penitentiary Regime Ramiro Llanos indicated that inmates in prisons have a series of benefits.
“We live in a written system, that is why everything that is written is valid. The doctor signs a certificate of convalescence, the prison governor issues a certificate of good conduct. With both documents, the lawyer goes before the judge, tells him that he is behaving well and presents the documents. With that, the judge covers his back and sets the person free,” he said.
In addition, Llanos explained that the judge is the only one who can authorize departures, any other permission of this type is irregular, as well as the entry of alcoholic beverages or sex workers or women who seek these prisoners to have intimacy.
He indicated that in general, people who enter prison for committing blood crimes are violent and seek to become leaders within the prison, that is why they appear as delegates and by enjoying that position they have more comfortable cells.
Faced with this situation, Llanos suggested that the femicides serve their sentences in a special penitentiary center, where they can work and generate resources to support the children who were orphaned.
