Illustrative photo of a prison.
-
WITT Sipa
A law imposing life imprisonment for feminicides and other crimes with aggravating circumstances entered into force Monday in Nicaragua.
Until now, the maximum sentence in force in the country was 30 years imprisonment.
Convicts will be able to apply for conditional release after 30 years of imprisonment.
Life imprisonment may be pronounced in particular against perpetrators of murder of women committed after rape, motivated by gender or if they were committed in front of the victim's children.
Assassinations by poison, asphyxiation, fire or against a vulnerable person will also be punishable by this type of penalty.
"Against the most serious crimes"
This penalty "will be applicable only for the most serious crimes against life, such as parricide, murder with aggravating circumstances and femicide", explained a criminal law expert and former opposition MP.
According to a report by the non-governmental organization “Catholics for the Right to Be Born”, 716 feminicides were committed in Nicaragua between 2010 and 2020, a figure lower than that recorded in neighboring countries.
The sentence of life imprisonment may also be pronounced for assassinations motivated by "hatred", "intolerance and discrimination" for reasons of gender, ideology, economics, social, religious, skin color, nationality, disability or profession.
According to the expert, its introduction into the Penal Code is "a huge setback" for human rights in view of the "inhuman" prison conditions in the country.
Society
Feminicides: In Paris, activists draw up a "memorial" for the victims of 2020
Society
Violence against women: The right words to talk about gender-based and sexual violence
World
Perpetuity
Justice
Jail
Nicaragua
Feminicide
Law