The Justice Commission approved a report that this February 15, 2024 will be debated in the plenary session of the National Assembly; Some reforms to the COIP cause controversy.
The Justice Commission of the National Assembly unified 43 proposals that proposed reforms to the Comprehensive Organic Penal Code (COIP), which triggered the modification of 86 articles of the norm, which this February 15 will be discussed in the plenary session in the second and final debate; However, the Correismo would have included articles that cause controversy and that, for Construye and some analysts, is part of the impunity agenda.
For assembly member Nataly Morillo (Construye), by including two grounds for appeal for review of a sentence, the Citizen Revolution (RC) intends to reverse the eight-year sentence against former president Rafael Correa.
“Two unnecessary causes are included that do nothing to benefit the security of Ecuadorians, which should be the objective of this reform. The always corrupt do not tire in their fight for the impunity of their top leaders,” Morillo stated.
Among the reforms to the COIP that cause controversy is article 79, which adds two causes that allow the review of a sentence, firstly, due to irremediable procedural defects or serious violations of due process; and, secondly, accepting the rulings issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights or human rights committees of the United Nations.
With this modification, according to Morillo, correismo opens the doors to resume the Bribery casefor which Correa has an enforceable sentence of eight years in prison, by insisting that the evidence is not valid and managing, by manipulating justice, to get a judge to agree with him.
In addition, former President Correa has a pending decision on the lawsuit against the State that he presented to the Permanent Committee on Human Rights of the United Nations which, if it favors him, would allow him to annul the sentence against him.
For jurist Ramiro García, the reform proposal is evidently directed in favor of Correa and cannot be applied, since the Human Rights committees are not jurisdictional bodies and do not have the same weight and effect as the Court’s rulings. Inter-American Human Rights Commission, which are mandatory for the country.
From the Construye bloc, the ADN and Social Christian Party benches were asked to abstain from voting on this reform, which would mean consummating the agenda of impunity denounced so many times.
Although he is part of the Justice Commission, the social-Christian Vicente Taiano was also taken by surprise by the reform and warned that his political organization will not support it in plenary, since the UN commissions “are complementary bodies that They do not comment on procedural issues.
Other controversies
In article 71 of the reform to the COIP, the obligation that the State Attorney General’s Office will have to inform the National Assembly about any case that is under investigation was included, even if it is only in preliminary investigation, which at the moment is forbidden.
For the constitutionalist José Chalco, approving this would be “disastrous” for the development of the investigations, since the process would be obstructed, mainly in cases related to the fight against corruption.
The Prosecutor’s Office, through a statement, showed his concern given what is intended to be approved in the Assembly, which he described as a new attempt to establish impunity in the countrysince it seeks to review executory sentences, force the institution to archive cases whose crimes have not prescribed and puts investigations at risk, by forcing the delivery of information to the Assembly.
The positive articles
Among the issues that stand out from the COIP reform, is the increase in penalties for the crimes of embezzlement, concussion, organized crime, influence peddling, rustling, extortion, sexual extortion, kidnapping, drug trafficking, terrorism and money laundering.
Whoever commits these crimes will not be able to benefit from prison benefits, that is, they cannot request a semi-open regime, nor the provisional suspension of the sentence nor the reduction of the criminal sentence.
Additionally, two new crimes will be classified, one will apply to the person who, knowing that he or she has an infectious disease, transmits it to another person; In addition, sanctions are established for feminicide, this last issue includes a penalty for anyone who, through the application of violence to a woman, drives her to suicide; Public officials who deny care are also punished with up to three years in prison.