Original article: «El ministro de Justicia le ha mentido al país»: diputado Cuello denuncia penalmente a Rabat por rebajas de condena

Justice Minister Accused of Deceiving the Nation: Lawmakers File Criminal Charges Against Rabat for Sentence Reductions

Deputies Luis Cuello (PC) and Juan Santana (PS) have filed criminal charges against Justice Minister Fernando Rabat and the Undersecretary of the ministry, Luis Silva, for the alleged crime of administrative prevarication following sentence reductions granted to individuals convicted of sexual offenses against children and adolescents.

«The Justice Minister has lied to the country, lied to the victims, and also lied to their families. He was not legally bound to grant sentence reductions to pedophiles,» Cuello stated after filing the legal action at the National Prosecutor’s Office.

The revelation that the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights granted 56 sentence reductions for sexual offenses against children and adolescents during the first six months of José Antonio Kast’s administration, from March 11 to September 13, 2026, has sparked significant controversy and widespread criticism.

The complaint filed by the legislators is based on Article 228 of the Penal Code and challenges the legality of these decisions, which benefited 27 individuals convicted of sexual abuse and 29 for rape.

According to Cuello and Santana, the decrees issued by Rabat’s ministry violate Article 17 of Law No. 19,856, which establishes express restrictions on granting sentence reductions to those convicted of sexual offenses against minors.

«What he was legally obligated to do was deny sentence reduction benefits to individuals convicted of sexual offenses against children,» Cuello argued.

He explained that the law absolutely excludes the possibility of granting this benefit to those convicted of such heinous crimes.

«What the minister did was arbitrarily and illegally decide that he simply would not apply the law, invoking a Supreme Court ruling. However, that jurisprudence does not obligate the minister or the administration. Only the sentences govern the specific case. At the same time, he argued that this is done for reasons of effectiveness and efficiency to avoid trials,» he added.

The parliamentarian questioned whether it is truly ethical and acceptable to «cut corners on a lawyer, avoid a trial to free a pedophile, to liberate a person convicted of such a terrible crime.»

«This is clearly illegal, and what the Penal Code states is that when a resolution is issued that is manifestly unjust, that is, contrary to the law, in this case, contrary to an express norm, then this type of crime applies,» he asserted, reiterating that Minister Rabat was obliged to deny the sentence reduction for offenders convicted of sexual crimes, and must resign.

«Consequently, I believe this is very serious, which is why we are presenting this complaint. At the same time, it is essential that the minister resign from his position, take a step back,» he stated.

Constitutional Accusation and Criminal Complaint

For his part, Deputy Juan Santana (PS) noted that they decided to file this criminal lawsuit against Minister Rabat and Undersecretary Silva mainly for the principle of administrative prevarication, which is an administrative act that is contrary to the law, one of the primary obligations of the authority.

He also criticized that after the scandal, President Kast discarded implementing changes and reaffirmed the questioned minister, supporting his work and indicating that he had tasked him with leading modifications to prevent this benefit from continuing to be granted.

«We find it unacceptable that the president of the republic, José Antonio Kast, reaffirms this authority in his position, as he has faced criticism not only from our political sector but also from the former Minister of Justice under Sebastián Piñera,» he remarked.

«This government, like it or not, will be remembered as the administration that released 56 individuals who committed sexual offenses against minors, and that matters is entirely unacceptable,» he emphasized.

Beyond this call for the Justice Minister’s departure, the opposition is evaluating the possibility of filing a constitutional accusation, and the bench is debating to reach a resolution on this matter while pressuring Kast’s administration to invalidate the already granted decrees.

Santana indicated that apart from reviewing the sufficient merits for proceeding with a constitutional accusation against Rabat, they opted for the criminal route to push for the responsibilities that correspond against authorities who were negligent but also endanger the security of Chileans.