‘My son’s murderer doesn’t deserve to die of Covid-19 in prison’ | World

In February, Silvia Ontivero had contacted the magistrates, asking them to deny the assassin’s request for parole. However, she said that the current crisis made her think again.

“I was angry. I hated. But I never wanted him to die,” she wrote in an open letter.

The President of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, recently approved plan to protect prisoners from pandemic, transferring them to house arrest whenever possible.

There have been riots in prisons across Argentina in recent weeks, amid fears that the virus may spread rapidly within crowded and poorly sanitized spaces.

The president’s decision has caused controversy, and some fear that justice will be disrupted, while others insist that the releases should be more extensive.

Silvia Ontivero’s son, Alejo Hunau, was killed in the Andean city of Mendoza in 2004.

Diego Arduino was sentenced to 16 years for the crime.

In a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Mariana Gardey said that Arduino was one of 400 prisoners in the Mendoza region considered to be at risk of health problems that make them vulnerable.

In an open letter to the local press, Ontivero said that he thought a lot and decided to support the idea of house arrest.

“We are talking about something different now. A pandemic. There is overcrowding in prisons and I can imagine the fear felt by the people inside,” he wrote.

He also told the TN station’s website that keeping him in prison would be the equivalent of “a death sentence,” something he has always opposed.

Ontivero was a political prisoner for seven years during the country’s military dictatorship, which lasted from 1976 to 1983.

He said earlier that jailing his son’s executioner gave him time to reflect, and he wanted to make sure that Arduino had enough time to do the same and become a better man, so he opposed a release. anticipated

Her son was a journalist and an adviser to the Mendoza government. He was murdered in his apartment, after being hit by a bottle of wine.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile, described the sanitary conditions in Latin American prisons as “deplorable” and called for the release of less dangerous prisoners.

Chile and Colombia released thousands of prisoners by the pandemic Last week, the Mexican Senate approved an initiative to take similar measures.

• PERU Riots for fear of coronavirus leave dead in prison

However, El Salvador has taken a hard-line approach, saying that convicted gang members are taking advantage of the pandemic.

On Wednesday, there was more controversy in Argentina after Carlos Capdevila, a doctor convicted of crimes against humanity, was among those entitled to house arrest.

A judge said the 70-year-old prisoner, who worked in the notorious detention center during the dictatorship, was at risk for Covid-19 due to “high blood pressure, prostate cancer and motor difficulties.”