Chilean Senate to Vote Pardon Bill for Political Prisoners

Hundreds of people were arrested during the demonstrations and have been kept thus far under preventive detention. | Photo: Twitter/ @CoronavirusNewvt

11 August 2021

Telesur

According to the lawyer Fernando Monsalves, the long preventive detention "is nothing other than the persecution and anticipated fulfillment of a sentence."

The Chilean Senate is set to vote on a bill to release all political prisoners during the social unrest of 2019.

Hundreds of people were arrested during the demonstrations and have been kept thus far under preventive detention. However, top government officials such as the Interior Minister Rodrigo Delgado, considers that "those who are deprived of liberty are people who committed crimes, in a context of social upheaval, but crimes."

"By 3 votes in favor and 2 against, the Constitution Commission generally approved a bill that grants a general pardon for humanitarian reasons to detainees during the Social Outbreak. The initiative will be voted on in the Chamber in future sessions."

The Constitutional Convention pushed forward with the issue since it was established, as it is a popular demand, but the Interior Minister does not rules out taking the bill to the constitutional court to prevent it from becoming law if it advances in the Senate.

According to the lawyer Fernando Monsalves, the long preventive detention "is nothing other than the persecution and anticipated fulfillment of a sentence." Also, Monsalves highlights that there has been a lack of objectivity when the Public Ministry, guarantee judges, and appeal courts ruled preventive detentions.