Nicaragua institutes life imprisonment for feminicides

A law imposing life imprisonment for feminicides and other crimes with aggravating circumstances entered into force Monday, January 25 in Nicaragua.

Until now, the maximum sentence in force in Nicaragua has been thirty years' imprisonment.

Those sentenced to life imprisonment will however be able to apply for parole after 30 years of imprisonment.

Read also: Mexico facing a worrying wave of feminicides

Life imprisonment may be pronounced in particular against perpetrators of murder of women committed after rape, motivated by gender or if they were committed in front of the victim's children.

Assassinations by poison, asphyxiation, fire or against a vulnerable person will also be punishable by life imprisonment.

This sentence

, explained to AFP the expert in criminal law and former opposition deputy. José Pallais.

According to a report by the non-governmental organization Catholics for the Right to Be Born, 716 feminicides were committed in Nicaragua between 2010 and 2020, a figure lower than that recorded in neighboring countries.

Read also: Feminicides: Mexico wants to put an end to "machismo that kills"

The sentence of life imprisonment may also be pronounced for assassinations motivated by

,

for reasons of gender, ideology, economics, social, religious, skin color, nationality, disability or profession.

According to José Pallais, the introduction of life imprisonment in the country's penal code is

for human rights in view of the

prison conditions

in Nicaragua.