translated from Spanish: INDH called on President Piñera to pardon to prevent health crises in prisons

This day the director of the National Institute of Human Rights, Sergio Micco, referred to the rejection of the commutative pardon project and called on President Piñera to carry out a pardon to implement this measure to prevent a health crisis inside prisons. Micco stated that “the Institute calls on the President of the Republic, he exercised enormous leadership in 2012, when the National Congress passed its general pardon bill. Why not now if the circumstances are infinitely more serious?” In addition, he recalled that in 2012 there were “nine thousand inmates who got out of prison and that now becomes vital,” as it would allow at least older women, and pregnant women or women who have a son or daughter under two years of age to also obtain this benefit.” There are crimes that are of particular seriousness that cannot be pardoned. The main ally to slow the advance of the coronavirus is social distance. It cannot be that because they did not agree (in Congress) to benefit 100 or 150 people (from Punta Peuco), 1,500 people who could leave have been harmed. There are legitimate discrepancies, but it’s time to put them off because we have to be united to prevent the spread of Coronavirus,” he explained. The director of the INDH also warned that “as an Institute we fully support the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights bill that would favor 1,500 people from prison to go on to comply with house arrest. We think it is a basic humanitarian and public health measure to be supported. We understand that there are congressmen who couldn’t go to vote yesterday because they were quarantined, but that bill has to be passed.”

Original source in Spanish