[News] Presidente Piñera presenta proyecto de ley contra el crimen organizado: "Estamos en un punto de inflexión"

[FNX Magokiler]

President Sebastián Piñera signed a bill on Sunday that seeks to modify the Penal Code and make the tools for the fight against organized crime more efficient. "We are at a turning point that forces us to act now with decision and urgency," stressed the President outside the Palacio de La Moneda. Piñera assured that criminal gangs in the country have caused "the loss of many lives, are terrorizing entire neighborhoods, have enslaved many young people, destroyed families and caused immense damage to our society," underlining that the current legislation to address this matter dates of 1874 and is "totally obsolete and has proven to be totally ineffective".

Thus, "unfortunately the combination of drugs, weapons, corruption and violence at the root of which is organized crime is also threatening to penetrate our police, institutions, the powers of the State, our democracy, as has happened in other countries on our continent, "he said. For this reason, and in view of the "frequent and violent armed confrontations that occur between drug trafficking gangs, competing to control territories", the President stated that "today we are going to sign a bill to combat criminal gangs and organized crime that to equip our police, the prosecution and our courts of justice with new and more effective instruments to combat this scourge and to increase the penalties associated with these crimes. "

 

 

After that, he explained that the project "modifies the crime of illicit association that has been in our Penal Code since 1874, and replaces it with two new figures: the criminal association and the criminal association." "The criminal association will punish those who are part of a criminal organization to commit simple crimes, with penalties of deprivation of liberty that go up to 5 years. The criminal association will sanction those who are part of a criminal association to commit crimes , with penalties of deprivation of liberty up to 10 years, "he added. In addition, he continued, "to determine the existence of these crimes, the court will have to consider the number of members that an organization has, the magnitude of its resources and means, the planning capacity, the sustained action over time, in order to be able to form A judgment". "This project also incorporates a set of special investigative techniques, such as undercover agents, revealing agents, informants, gang infiltration, interference in telephone communications. This always requires the prior authorization of a guarantee judge to protect the fundamental rights of the people, "said the President. Finally, he assured that the initiative "also establishes incentives for members of a criminal organization to report it to the authorities, facilitating the investigation and thus obtaining a reduction and mitigation of their sentence. In this way, we will have greater capacity to identify and disrupt these bands. "

Edited December 27, 2020 by [Ty]M@g0k1l3r