Human Rights Groups Oppose Senate Bill Offering Benefits to Convicted Human Rights Abusers

Original article: Agrupaciones de familiares de ejecutados políticos rechazan proyecto que busca beneficiar a condenados por crímenes de lesa humanidad

Human Rights Groups: «We Demand Parliamentarians Reject This Bill for Ethics and Democratic Responsibility»

The Association of Families of Executed Political Prisoners (AFEP) and over thirty human rights organizations have publicly denounced a recently approved bill by the Senate aimed at granting reduced sentences and prison benefits to those convicted of crimes against humanity. The groups argue that this initiative represents «a strategy of judicial impunity pushed by politically right-wing sectors» who, under the pretext of «advanced age» and «chronic illnesses,» aim to allow «murderers, torturers, and human rights violators» to serve their sentences at home instead of in prison.

The organizations warn that the bill violates international legal standards, stating, «Both the Rome Statute and the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights clearly establish that disproportionate prison benefits for criminals guilty of crimes against humanity are inadmissible.» In their statement, the groups emphasize that families still do not know the whereabouts of 1,092 forcibly disappeared individuals and 377 executed political prisoners whose remains have not been returned, while «the criminals being targeted for leniency have shown no remorse or provided information.»

«It is outrageous to suggest that ailments associated with old age, such as hypertension or diabetes, should serve as justification for genocidal and other criminals to evade justice,» the document asserts. The organizations demand that parliamentarians reject this initiative, stating that «the memory of our forcibly disappeared and executed political prisoners requires justice that does not bow to particular political interests.»

The full declaration, which includes support from over thirty social and human rights organizations nationwide, can be reviewed in its entirety below:

PUBLIC DECLARATION

The Association of Families of Executed Political Prisoners (AFEP), in light of the recent general approval by the Senate of the bill aimed at granting sentence commutation and prison benefits to those convicted of crimes against humanity—who have maintained a pact of silence regarding the truth about the abhorrent crimes committed and have perpetually justified the civil-military coup—and considering that families still do not know the whereabouts of their loved ones, including 1,092 forcibly disappeared and 377 executed political prisoners whose bodies have not been delivered, declares the following:

This initiative constitutes a strategy of judicial impunity driven by right-wing political sectors, particularly from RN, UDI, and the far-right, who today seek to downplay the horror and state terrorism. Under pretenses of «advanced age» and «chronic illnesses,» they seek to allow murderers, torturers, and human rights violators, responsible for some of the most atrocious crimes committed during the civil-military dictatorship, to leave prison to serve their sentences in the comfort of their homes.

It is an aberration to argue that age-related ailments, such as hypertension or diabetes, should serve as justification for genocidal and other criminals to evade justice and the effectiveness of sentences imposed by courts.

We denounce that this project undermines international legal frameworks and the obligations that the State of Chile has undertaken. Both the Rome Statute and the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights establish with clarity that disproportionately lenient prison benefits for crimes against humanity are inadmissible, as they undermine the substance of convictions and represent a denial of justice. A State that weakens the enforcement of penalties incurs a serious democratic regression and betrays its commitment to the truth.

More than five decades after these events, families continue to fight relentlessly for the justice that has been denied to us. The criminals being targeted for leniency have shown no remorse and provided no information that might lead to the whereabouts of our forcibly disappeared and executed political prisoners. Granting them freedom would re-victimize the victims and prolong a grief that the State has a duty to address.

Finally, we express our categorical rejection of the promoters of such projects, represented by figures like the senator from Renovación Nacional, Francisco Chahuán, whose initiatives directly clash with international human rights standards. Promoting impunity disqualifies ethically and politically any aspiration Mr. Chahuán may have to represent our country abroad, considering that his potential appointment as ambassador to Mexico is under evaluation.

We demand that parliamentarians, for the sake of ethics and democratic responsibility, reject this bill. The memory of our forcibly disappeared and executed political prisoners requires justice that does not yield to particular political interests, reaffirming that «Never Again» forms the ethical and moral foundation of our society.

Association of Families of Executed Political Prisoners

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared of La Serena

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared of Chillán

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared of Liquiñe

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared of Concepción

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared of Los Ángeles

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared of Parral

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared and Executed Political Prisoners of Valdivia.

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared and Executed Political Prisoners of Paine

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared and Executed Political Prisoners of Talca

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared and Executed Political Prisoners of the Araucanía Region.

Association of Families of Executed Political Prisoners and Forcibly Disappeared of Iquique and Pisagua

Association of Families of Executed Political Prisoners and Forcibly Disappeared of Calama.

Association of Families of Executed Political Prisoners and Forcibly Disappeared of Valparaíso

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared and Executed Political Prisoners of Osorno

Human Rights Association of Coyhaique

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared of Mulchén

Association of Families of Forcibly Disappeared and Executed Political Prisoners of Puerto Montt

Association of Families of Executed Political Prisoners and Forcibly Disappeared of Antofagasta

Collective 119 of Families and Companions of Women for Memory and Life

Human Rights Victims Group of San Carlos

Group Initiatives for the Freedom of Political Prisoners from the Uprising

Regional Collective for Human Rights Gonzalo Muñoz Otárola of Rancagua

Casa Varas Mena 417 SJ Corporation

Memory and Resistance Site Borgoño Corporation.

ONG. Renacer PRAIS of Ñuble

Secretariat of Memory and Human Rights of the University of Chile

Collective for Memory and Human Rights of the Catholic University

Ecumenical Community Martin Luther King

National Association of Public Employees (ANEF) Copper Workers Federation (CTC)

Observers of Human Rights Defenders Blue Helmets Observatory for the Closure of the School of the Americas

Legal Team of the Association of Families of Executed Political Prisoners