derecho penal

 The court reviewed a decision made by the ‘Family Commissioner’ (Comisario de Familia) and endorsed by the Family Judge (Juzgado de Familia), denying the plaintiff’s request for precautionary measures against the defendant, based on physical and psychological aggressions. The Commissioner estimated that there was not enough evidence as to affirm that the risk to the plaintiff’s life or integrity. Given the parties’ mutual aggression, the Commissioner advised the couple to cease all acts of violence against each other.

The case concerned women’s sexual and reproductive rights, specifically the right to voluntarily terminate the pregnancy. The court ruled that sexual and reproductive rights, including abortion in certain circumstances, are subject to constitutional protection. A pregnant woman’s husband requested that the health care provider perform a genetic and pathological test on the fetus and the termination of his wife’s pregnancy, based on an alleged diagnosis of malformation, among other complications. The doctor refused upon conscientious objection.

The case concerned issues of language in judicial rulings that led to revictimization. The protected applicant, the leader of an association of peasant women, was kidnapped and raped by an illegal armed group that considered her a threat. The plaintiff brought suit against two potential perpetrators who were acquitted by the court of Cundinamarca. The Constitutional Court ruled to exclude a section of the aforementioned decision because of the section’s use of vulgar and disqualifying expressions in relation to the victim of sexual violence.

This decision promoted the systematization of complaints relating to domestic and intra-family violence. It updated the ‘Violence Registration Form’ approved by Decision nº 454 dated April 24, 2007. The form promotes a system of centralized information and, consequently, accurate statistical indicators that will help authorities to better understand and prevent violence against women.

This decision provides that complaints of domestic violence must be channeled through the ‘Permanent Attention Office’ (Oficina de Atención Permanente). This Office is responsible of receiving all types of domestic or intra-family violence claims, without making any distinction based on the sex or age of the victims. Since violence against women constitutes a violation of human rights, the creation of the Office is intended to streamline judicial proceedings, serving victims of physical or mental abuse in a timely and efficient manner.

This judicial review concerned domestic violence. The court ruled that there ought to be greater criminal sanctions for domestic violence offenses. The law provides for four to eight years of imprisonment in cases of domestic violence, irrespective of the magnitude of the injuries. The plaintiff claimed that the article went against the proportionality principle set forth by the Colombian Constitution.

The case concerned abortion, the right to life, the right to health, and the right to self-determination. The court ruled for the partial decriminalization of abortion and set circumstances under which voluntary termination of pregnancy would be permissible. The Criminal Code previously criminalized voluntary abortion with one to three years of imprisonment.

In this case, the defendant, the mayor of a Colombian town, was convicted of rape and non-consensual abortion. The penalty was 261 months of imprisonment and 20 years of disqualification from exercising political roles in the public sector. The prosecutor argued that the defendant had several sexual encounters with the plaintiff, a minor, against her will and, as a result, she got pregnant. The defendant forced the plaintiff to terminate the pregnancy. The defendant argued before the Supreme Court of Justice that the appellant court omitted at least seven fundamental testimonies.

This law amends Paraguay’s Criminal Code and establishes (among other things) penalties for (i) sexual harassment, article 133; (ii) domestic violence, article 229; (iii) sexual coercion, including sexual abuse without intercourse, article 128; (iv) human trafficking, article 129; (v) sexual abuse of defenseless victims, article 130; and (vi) sexual abuse of persons held in custody, children under 14, and/or persons under guardianship –articles 130, 131, 135, 136, 137 and 230.

This law extended the powers of authorities in investigations of alleged crimes of violence against women as well as amended the domestic violence and food assistance provisions, as contained in articles 229 and 233 of the Criminal Code.  With the issuance of this law, the prosecutor is allowed to engage in investigations of the aforementioned crimes at the moment it learns from the conduct in any manner, thus, the prosecutor no longer has to wait until someone presses charges to start the correspondent investigations.