The multicolored coalition is currently analyzing a draft bill presented by the National Party, which falls on top of the one presented by Cabildo Abierto last year, which aims to raise the limit to access the home prison benefit from 65 to 70 years of age.
The CA project that did not advance said that inmates 65 years of age would have access to the home prison benefit, but in the National Party’s counterproposal, that limit would be increased to 70 years.
Additionally, the draft establishes that the judge could order this regime in cases in which a person over 65 years of age “have serious health problems” or in a situation of “serious disability”.
Both the CA proposal and the PN proposal would benefit those prosecuted and convicted of human rights violations during the dictatorship. The project of the lobbyists, from last year, in theory, would exempt from house arrest those prosecuted for crimes against humanity that are listed in Law 18,026 “that had been committed after the date of entry into force of the referred law”, that is, after 2006, and the new proposal maintains that exception. However, the draft does not clarify that the law applies to subsequent cases.
legal gap
Of the repressors and violators of human rights, during the period of the dictatorship, none was prosecuted or charged by Law 18,026. At the time, the country’s laws did not criminalize crimes such as torture or enforced disappearance.
To date, the Prosecutor for Crimes Against Humanity has not charged any person under Law 18,026 of 2006, which is precisely what is mentioned in the draft PN.
The lawyer, Pablo Chargoñia, told The Daily that for the majority of those prosecuted and convicted in Domingo Arena it would apply “the automatic and general provision” as drafted by the PN, and “with the sole verification of age (70 years)” they could have the benefit of prison domiciliary
The draft also says that those with cases of “recidivism, repetition or habituality” will not be able to access house arrest, that is, they receive more than one sentence, and therein lies the most blurred of concepts: many of the repressors of the dictatorship they have only one accusation and are not repeat offenders so, technically, they would enjoy the benefit of serving the rest of their sentence in their private home.
According to publications of The Daily and of Searchthe lobbying senator, Raúl Lozano, the ultra-conservative political force already has the draft in their possession and they would agree, beyond some detail that they are willing to change.
