[DR1] Step back in time?

[NewsWhore]

The editor of Diario Libre warns today that the Senator Jose Tomas Perez (PLD-National District) bill to amend the Penal Code will bring more headaches than solutions. He called on the legislature not pass it as drafted. He says it would be a counter-reform and a step back in time because it brings back allowing arbitrary arrests and obliging people to remain in a state of "preventive" prison. He explains that the bill proposes absurd changes such as requiring the accused to notify the Attorney General if he still has the intention to judge him when the term for the investigation of the case expires. Worse still, he explains in his page two editorial today, is that it includes the case of suspected accessories among the crimes that would require mandatory imprisonment, when it is known that such an accusation was frequently used for arbitrary reasons. He says if this were reinstated, we would go back to the days when influential people could order others to be "locked up". Tejada also says that the bill is a retrograde step for advancements such as the presumption of innocence and leaves it up to the judge's discretion to determine how dangerous an accused is even if there is no proof.


"Society needs to defend itself when attacked, but this cannot be by attacking the foundations of a state of law. Tejada says that this amendment bill needs to be left on the table."


For comments, write to atejada@diariolibre.com (mailto:atejada@diariolibre.com)

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