Ignacio Ortelli
04/29/2020 - 16:01
- Clarín.com
- Politics
"Alberto (Fernández) is not going to pardon or commute anyone's sentence ." In the midst of the tension that was exposed within the ruling party for the release of prisoners under the argument of the coronavirus crisis, the Government assures that the President is not willing to endorse one of the key points that the representatives of the detainees put as required in the minutes of agreement they signed on Friday after the riot in the Devoto prison.
In the run-up to the meeting that will hold the table this Thursday in the prison chapel, the Casa Rosada seeks to establish a uniform position , beyond the differences that emerge within the Frente de Todos for the release of the prisoners. Thus, even though Fernández himself was in favor of "restricted liberties" , since he considered that "prisons are a very risky place of human concentration," he maintains the promise he made during the campaign not to pardon anyone. . "Neither politicians nor common prisoners," emphasized a high official source.
In other words, Fernández will not make use of the power that the National Constitution grants to the Executive Power in subsection 5 of article 99, which establishes that: "You can pardon or commute penalties for crimes subject to federal jurisdiction, after a report from the court corresponding, except in cases of accusation by the Chamber of Deputies ".
In the Ministry of Justice, led by Marcela Losardo, they say they have indications of not accepting that demand . Nor is it promoted by Vice President Cristina Kirchner, those who frequent her swear: "Justice is the one who releases or imprisons, that is not promoted by the Executive or the Legislative", they repeat in their environment.
In this sense, the Secretary of Justice, Juan Martín Mena ; his most influential judicial sword, since the conflict broke out, he reported minute by minute to the minister. " On this issue there are no differences , they are working in harmony," they maintained in the Executive.
It is that in the Government there is a latent concern about the possibility that the negotiations will not come to fruition . This speculation is fueled by the expectation that was installed among the inmates after in point 4 of the agreement that was signed last Friday, the parties agreed to deal with "compensation and commutation of sentences."
In fact, this is one of the main issues that the Single Union of Private Ambulatory Freedom Workers (Sutpla) once again made on Tuesday, by calling for "peaceful batucadas" while the meeting , called for 10 am, takes place. pressure would not occur only in Devotee , and there are calls in the Olmos prison and other federal criminal courts in the interior.
However, Andrea Casamento, founder of the Family Association of Detainees of Federal Prisons (ACIFAD) and one of the people who will sit at the negotiating table, ruled out that the Government's position is going to generate conflicts: "It is not what they are waiting for the prisoners, "he told Clarín . And, although he admitted that "some raised the possibility of commutation of sentences and there was talk of what other countries did ," he said that " no one promised to commute sentences."
For Casamento, the priority is "that the health" of the inmates is guaranteed , and that "the judges have at their disposal all the papers to define the presentations" made by the defenders of the detainees, especially those of the detainees groups at risk or that are close to serving the sentence. "In the midst of a situation like the current one, it is necessary to unlock all the bureaucratic procedures , you cannot waste time," he said.
Also, Casamento demanded the presence of criminal execution judges and that the possibility of alternative methods of imprisonment be considered for those with minor crimes.
Regarding health, the government moved quickly after it was known that the prisoner who fell from the ceiling tested positive for coronavirus . To decompress the situation in Devotee and bring calm to the inmates, the Secretary of Access to Health, Carla Vizzotti ; He appeared in prison on Sunday and spoke with inmates for four hours . "It was key to calm those who were nervous," said a prison source.
In the midst of so many internal differences on the subject, the President's position coincides with that of the Buenosairean governor, Axel Kicillof: " The governor does not think of commuting sentences, " they said close to him, in relation to the request that, as he recounted Clarín , the Official Defenders of the province made him so that, in the face of the prison overcrowding he inherited, he would use the same power, which in his case is given by article 114, subsection 4 of the provincial Constitution.