MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile: No house arrest for those convicted of human rights violations

“Crimes against humanity are unamnestible,” Cordero said

The Chilean administration of President Gabriel Boric Font Friday spoke against granting house arrest to military personnel convicted of human rights violations during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990). Justice Minister Luis Cordero denounced a proposal submitted by the ultra-right Republican Party in this regard.

The initiative sought to allow those over 75 years of age convicted of crimes against humanity to serve their sentence at home through an amendment to be added to the new Constitution to be put up for plebiscite in December.

Of the 265 prison inmates aged over 75 in Chile, 153 have been convicted of crimes against humanity, with 73 of them housed in the Punta Peuco military prison.

According to Cordero, “The proportion of people over 75 years old and how many of them are human rights convicts says quite a lot about the effects of such an amendment.”

“In the opinion of the Executive, crimes against humanity are unamnestible. Each one has to be responsible for the amendments he generates,” Cordero added.

He also warned that should such a constitutional amendment be approved -something possible because the Republicans and the right-wing Vamos alliance have an absolute majority- it would “affect international human rights law.”

Over 1,000 amendments to the draft written by 24 experts were submitted for debate in the current process of penning a new Constitution.