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Government decisions on pardons and sentence substitution have been closely followed from Washington by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). So, on this day, the body He made a call to the State of Chile where he “expresses his concern” about the reactivation in the Senate – on April 8 – of the “Human Pardon” bill, which would eventually allow those convicted of human rights violations during the military dictatorship to be released.
Through a statement, the entity reminded the Chilean State that “The international obligation to punish those responsible for crimes of such gravity may become illusory due to the application of prison benefits that would reproduce an impression of impunity.”
Likewise, the IACHR noted that in the case of convictions for crimes against humanity, “The State must refrain from resorting to figures such as amnesty, pardon, prescription and the establishment of exclusion of liability, as well as measures that seek to prevent criminal prosecution or suppress the effects of a conviction.”
On the other hand, The IACHR highlighted the Law of General Commutative Pardon, promulgated on April 16, which allowed some people incarcerated – under certain criteria – to exchange the deprivation of liberty in prison facilities for the penalty of house arrest, this in order to decongest the country’s prisons in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
Furthermore, the IACHR He applauded that this law excluded from the benefit those convicted of crimes against humanity. “The Commission welcomes this measure, in line with the recommendations of its recent Resolution 1/2020 – Pandemic and Human Rights in the Americas,” said the agency.
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