The UN described as “excessive” the use of pretrial detention against detainees in “context of the demonstrations” after 18-O

A new UN Human Rights report describes as “excessive” the use of pretrial detention “in cases of people accused of alleged crimes in the context of demonstrations” after the social outbreak. The document points out that “there is dissonance and inconsistency in the official figures between the institutions regarding the number of people in pretrial detention in the framework of processes for such crimes.” In fact, he notes that the office failed to access up-to-date information. In the text they quote the Human Rights Committee to affirm that “pretrial detention should not be the general rule, but the exception.” The prolonged use of this precautionary measure becomes more problematic in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, since it is opposed to the policies of decongestion of penitentiary enclosures promoted by international human rights organizations,” they affirm. They also maintain that “it is the Obligation of the State to ensure the guarantees of due process and, in this sense, to assess the objective limits to the use of pretrial detention.” Precautionary measures cannot be more burdensome than the eventual result of a conviction, certainly avoiding that pretrial detention could be applied as an ‘anticipated penalty’, rather than as a genuine precautionary measure,” they state in the document.

Original source in Spanish