The Radix political movement expressed this Friday its outrage at the “ridiculous” sentence of community work, imposed by a judge on the priest Luis Ruiz Quiroga for the crime of libidinous act against a minor under 17 years of age.
In Radix’s opinion, both the Public Ministry and the Judicial Branch have failed the victim of this crime and the population.
“The first for accepting a sentence agreement and the second for not imposing the maximum penalty, considering the aggravating circumstances of the case, thus contributing to the fact that the prison sentence could be replaced with community work,” they said in a statement.
They added that a legal team from said movement, headed by lawyer Arturo Trelles, will go in the next few days to the Citizen Participation Directorate of the National Assembly to propose reforms to the Criminal Procedure Code that prevent those accused of crimes against Freedom and Sexual Integrity carry out penalty agreements.
This writing arises, after the judge of guarantees of the Accusatory Penal System of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, Meylín Jaén agreed to the request for community work for the priest Luis Ruiz Quiroga, who was sentenced to 60 months in prison as the main penalty, as the author of the crime against freedom and sexual integrity, in the form of aggravated libidinous acts, to the detriment of a minor under 17 years of age.
The Public Ministry, represented by the prosecutor Zuleyka Moore and the defender of the Public Defense Institute, Darío Solís, at the time opposed the request, despite the fact that the note presented by the defense indicates functions, hours and supervision.
For this reason, they filed an appeal, whose hearing was scheduled for July 14, at 10:30 in the morning, in Plaza Fortuna.
