Colombia’s Duque sanctions law mandating life imprisonment for child rape

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The President of Colombia, Iván Duque, signed this Tuesday (6) the law that mandates life imprisonment for those who rape or murder minors, which was approved last year by Congress to toughen penalties against this type of crime.

This law regulates the provisions of life imprisonment and reforms the Criminal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Penitentiary and Prison Code to consider life imprisonment as exceptional and only applicable to modalities in which the child or adolescent is a victim of “homicide in an intentional manner and/or carnal access involving violence”.

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In addition, the sentence may be reviewed after a minimum term of 25 years and replaced by a temporary sentence of not less than 50 years, in case the “resocialization” of the aggressor is considered.

“We must have as a society zero-tolerance against any abuse, rape, or murder of a child or adolescent,” Duque asserted during the ceremoney to sanction of the law and assured that “today we are marking a milestone in our country.”

The president highlighted the political consensus in the approval of this regulation, which has supported politicians of different parties and ideologies for “the purpose of protecting and protecting the rights of children and adolescents”.

FOURTEEN MINORS ABUSED IN MEDELLÍN

The approval of the regulation of life imprisonment for this type of case, which was approved on June 18 last year by the Senate without any opposing vote, coincides with the commotion in Colombia after the denunciation of sexual abuse of 14 minors in a children’s home in Medellin.

The minors were allegedly abused in an early childhood home attached to that program, co-financed by the state-run Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) and administered and operated by the Mayor’s Office of Medellín, the country’s second-largest city.

Criticism for the slow performance of the Prosecutor’s Office and the judiciary comes because since the case was made public last June 30, the judge took five days to issue an arrest warrant against the alleged abuser, Ismael Darío Lopera, a worker at the center.

In addition, there were also delays on the part of the local authorities, confirmed by the mayor of Medellin, Daniel Quintero, to implement the so-called “Fuchsia Code”, which would activate the attention and reporting of abuse.