The prosecutors of Santiago de Chile will request the preventive detention of all foreigners without ID linked to a crime

The Chilean Public Ministry has announced that the prosecutors of the Metropolitan Region, that of Santiago de Chile, will request the preventive detention of all foreigners accused of a crime who do not have a National Identity Document (DNI).

This was reported by the national prosecutor, Ángel Valencia, after an emergency meeting with the four chief prosecutors of the capital and in the midst of a climate of public commotion over the cold-blooded murder of a policeman, the third dead in 23 days.

Although the police authorities are still looking for those responsible for the crime of Corporal Daniel Palma, 33, who was shot in the head while trying to control a car, both the Prosecutor's Office and the Carabineros released the images of two of the suspects, of Venezuelan nationality.

“All the prosecutors of the Metropolitan Region are going to request that those foreign defendants who are detained, whose identity could not be reliably established by national media, remain in preventive detention until their identity can be established and they can comply with the national obligations in terms of enrollment”, Valencia explained after the meeting, with which they have started “new criteria for action against foreigners without official Chilean identification documents”, which have already been informed to the prosecutors in this area of ​​the country.

This measure would not be applicable to irregular immigrants who are not accused of any crime.

Those who do not have their papers up to date and are detained in other circumstances, make themselves available to the Investigative Police, PDI, to initiate an administrative procedure.

Policemen cry as the funeral car of police officer Daniel Palma passes by, during an act in his honor, this Thursday. Esteban Felix (AP)

According to figures from the North Central Metropolitan Regional Prosecutor's Office, "25% of the defendants who go to detention control are foreigners, and of that percentage, 50% do not have a RUN [DNI] in the Civil Registry of our country, which leads to registration and identification problems, as well as problems of a procedural nature”.

The announced measure tries to solve a complex problem, according to prosecutors.

When the police arrest a foreign citizen who is accused of a crime, if they do not have ID, they can report any identity at the time of the detention control.

If the crime is serious, in most cases he is detained preventively.

When it comes to a minor crime, however, the investigated person is released with the commitment of a criminal exchange: going to a Civil Registry and Identification office with a document delivered by the court to be granted a registration number. provisional ID.

But the prosecutors have detected that in most cases false names are given or, simply, the defendant does not attend the identification offices,

Currently complex situations can occur.

If the defendant for a minor crime does not have a document and has an international arrest warrant, for example, Chilean prosecutors have no way of knowing it, so he is free.

Prosecutors, until now, request that foreign defendants without ID have their fingerprints taken and that they be sent to the country of origin so that identity can be verified.

But as the process takes time, those investigated for minor crimes are released.

It can happen, as it has happened, that foreigners do not inform their true nationality, for which information is requested from a country that does not correspond.

In accordance with the new criteria for action by the prosecutors, "if the Guarantee Court refuses to impose the preventive detention measure against the foreign defendant, it will proceed to appeal that decision (verbally or in writing, as appropriate) so that the Court of Appeals resolves the application of this measure against the foreign defendant”.

In addition, "in no case will substitute sentences be offered to foreign defendants without a provisional RUN [DNI], nor in cases where there are doubts about their real identification," according to the new rules of the persecutors.

A demonstration in support of the Chilean police, this Thursday in Santiago. PABLO VERA (AFP)

The grounds for leaving someone in pretrial detention are contained in article 140 of the Penal Code and refer to danger to the safety of society, danger of flight, and danger to the safety of the victim.

The impossibility of determining identity does not exist as a cause, so the Ombudsman could claim that equality before the law is being violated.

Given this new picture, it will be the guarantee judges who must resolve this type of case.

The Minister of Justice of the Government of Gabriel Boric, Luis Cordero, has said that “this is a mechanism that the Public Ministry has announced at the request of its prosecutors.

It will be up to the judges to accept these requests or not”.

Cordero expressed his doubts, especially regarding the prison's capacity to receive pretrial detainees.

“Regarding whether or not we have capacity in prisons (...).

It is necessary for all of us to bear in mind that the number of prisoners has been on a sustained increase in the last year in particular.

And the projections for the months that follow and the beginning of next year are equivalent”.

The suspects in the Cape Palma crime have been identified as Carlos Alexander Cortéz Florez and Luis Alberto Lugo Machado, both preliminarily linked to a gang dedicated to the theft of watches in the eastern sector of Santiago de Chile.

One of them, Lugo, has a previous criminal record and an arrest warrant was issued against him.

Palma is the third police officer killed in Chile in 23 days.

He was married to a police officer, he had a four-year-old son and his wife is pregnant with a girl.

His death adds to the crime, just 12 days ago, of Sergeant Rita Olivares, who was shot in the head by a group of criminals who were robbing a house.

Shortly before, on March 15, Corporal Héctor Salazar was intentionally run over during an inspection in the south of the country.