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More than 80 thousand people have been formalized or required by the Public Ministry for having violated some of the measures dictated by the health authority in the midst of the pandemic. In these five months, the Public Ministry decided to impute those who violate quarantines Article 318 of the Penal Code, which punishes those who with their conduct put public health at risk. However, detractors of this policy of criminal prosecution have questioned the Prosecutor’s Office stating that if a person is not infected with coronavirus, there is no risk and, therefore, the criminal type is not configured.
The discussion reached the hands of the Constitutional Court (TC) that today left the Public Ministry in a complicated situation. This, because after an analysis, it agreed to partially accept -in a divided ruling, by 5 votes to 4- a request presented by the guarantee judge Andrea Díaz Muñoz, who went to the body to decide whether said regulations applied specifically to a case that is processed in your court could violate the Fundamental Charter by going against the principles of proportionality, legality and equality before the law.
In simple, the TC declared unenforceable as unconstitutional part of article 318 that has to do with the jail sentence, leaving only as a possibility – in the specific case that was brought before the body – the sentence in fine as a sanction and not jail. In the discussion of those who were to accept the request, the majority inclined to question the expression “Minor prison in its minimum to medium degree or”, contained in article 318, first paragraph, of the Penal Code.
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Inside the Public Ministry they comment that the decision could cause a bigger headache to the Prosecutor’s Office. The request presented by Judge Díaz Muñoz could be added other defendants who feel harmed by the application of article 318, especially those who have been formalized for not respecting quarantines, but having never presented the disease. To this too, the same sources say, the weakening of the fear of criminal prosecution could be added, since people will know that at most they risk a fine and not jail to violate the measures.
By accepting the request partially they were lThe ministers Iván Aróstica, José Ignacio Vásquez, Cristián Letelier, Nelson Pozo and Rodrigo Pica. For rejecting, the president María Luisa Brahm, Gonzalo García, Miguel Ángel Fernández and María Pía Silva. The minister was not present Juan Jose Romero for being licensed.
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