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They release Sara Rogel, sentenced to 30 years in El Salvador after suffering obstetric emergency

2021-06-09T08:31:07.942Z


After serving 10 years of his sentence, imposed after presenting a miscarriage, Rogel was released from prison. "I loved my baby," she said at a press conference in which she reiterated that she suffered an accident and should not have been condemned for that.


The woman took off her mask and nevertheless managed a shy smile.

"It was something very difficult, but

I am here to say that I am innocent,

" said Sara Rogel, after spending a decade in the Minor Detention Center in the city of Zacatecoluca, El Salvador, which she entered when she was 22 years old. a student.

Rogel, who does not use his real name for fear of reprisals, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the crime of aggravated murder committed by allegedly having an abortion.

And, although on April 31 a judge ordered his parole, he had to wait until June 7 to go out on the street because the prosecution announced that it would carry out an appeal that was not finally executed.

I loved my baby and I lost him because of a fall

(…) I was about to finish my studies.

I also wanted to do a nursing degree and unfortunately this accident happened to me ”, explained Rogel with a strained voice, remembering how his hell began.

[A judge ordered the release of Sara Rogel, a Salvadoran woman who was accused of having an abortion.

But still prey]

Sara Rogel, center, during a press conference held in San Salvador on June 8, 2021 Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion

On October 7, 2012, Rogel was transferred to the National Hospital of Cojutepeque in serious health after suffering a severe fall in the laundry room of her home, for which she lost a lot of blood and fainted.

That accident caused an obstetric emergency.

“I fell and was unconscious.

When I woke up, I was already in the hospital and I didn't know what was going on and I didn't know anything about my daughter.

Nobody told me anything.

I was deprived of liberty (…) They stole my dreams from me

”, she commented in the meeting with the media.

Although she had tears and bleeding, Rogel was arrested the next day at the health center where police officers handcuffed her to the bed where she was receiving treatment.

Later, the authorities accused her of aggravated homicide, presuming her guilt "without any evidence," according to experts from the Center for Reproductive Rights for Latin America and the Caribbean.

They release in El Salvador a woman who was imprisoned for 10 years for a miscarriage

June 7, 202100: 34

"Although we are relieved that Sara will finally be reunited with her family, the injustice to which she was subjected is unacceptable and

we will not stop fighting until she is found innocent and the rest of the women who remain unjustly imprisoned are released,

" said Paula Avila -Guillén, executive director of the Women's Equality Center, in a statement.

 [The cases of Manuela and Sara in El Salvador are an example of how the total ban on abortion threatens the lives of the poorest]

"Let justice be done"

In El Salvador, women who have complications during pregnancy are often suspected of having had an abortion, which is prohibited in all circumstances and is classified as aggravated homicide, a crime whose prison term is 30 years.

That was the case with Rogel.

“Today I am asking for justice to be done with my other colleagues, because there

are 17 who have stayed there

.

Just as I suffered this damage, many people are behind those bars for many years because they have lost their children ”, implored Rogel, during his speech.

The Salvadoran State has some of the most restrictive laws in the world on abortion, sentences can reach 50 years in prison.

It is estimated that between the years 2000 and 2019,

181 women suffered obstetric emergencies and were criminalized for alleged abortions

or the charge of aggravated homicide.

[Argentina passes a historic law that legalizes abortion until week 14]

"

There are still 16 open processes

and each of these cases shows the consequences of the absolute criminalization of abortion, causing the State to abandon women at the moment when they most need protection and access to health," asserts Carmen Martínez López, regional manager of the Center for Reproductive Rights, in an interview with Noticias Telemundo.

Feminists demand in El Salvador the release of a woman sentenced to 30 years for a miscarriage

June 1, 202100: 44

“It is very unfortunate that in the framework of the criminal process that she unjustly faced

, her innocence is not recognized.

That is why his individual case reached international bodies that ordered the Salvadoran government to release him and repair the damage.

But there is still a lot to do, ”explains Martínez López.

In 2019, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled on the situation of Rogel and Berta Arana and Evelyn Hernández, two women who are also imprisoned after suffering obstetric emergencies, saying that it considered that "deprivation freedom ”and his“ subsequent sentences ”are

“ arbitrary and contrary to international law ”

.

However, two years later, only Rogel has been released.

Hundreds of Salvadorans parade for International Women's Day

March 8, 202100: 55

["They raped me, they beat me and I felt like I was disappearing": in Mexico women suffer human rights abuses when they go out to protest]

Sara's future

Teodora del Carmen Vásquez is well aware of the challenges Salvadoran women experience upon release from prison.

She suffered a stillbirth in the last month of her pregnancy and

was also sentenced to 30 years in prison, but was released in 2018 after spending nearly 11 years in prison.

"Sara's freedom gives us hope and desire to continue fighting and denouncing these processes so that the comrades who are still detained can regain their freedom as soon as possible," she explains vehemently.

Vásquez has become an activist and fights for the vindication of women's rights and their social reintegration after going through prisons.

“At the beginning it is not easy because nobody wants to give us work, people do not believe that we are innocent.

We have to continue fighting for future generations to achieve the decriminalization of abortion and that no one lives this again ”, he concludes.

According to data from the Organization of Salvadoran Women for Peace, at least 47 femicides were reported in the country between January and March of this year.

That represents a 67.8% increase compared to the first quarter of 2020 when only 28 cases were recorded.

The Salvadoran prosecutor's office reported

96 missing women in the first two months of 2021, and

also registered at least eight daily complaints of crimes related to sexual violence in the first quarter of this year.

Rogel knows that she, and her companions, are victims of a set of laws that confined them to cells.

“It is not easy to be in a prison.

It is not easy to be so many years away from your family and also know that they are long sentences.

I know that I am not a danger to society, now I just want to be free,

"he asserted, while enjoying his first hours of freedom.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2021-06-09

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