San Salvador (AFP)
The justice of El Salvador judged again from Thursday for homicide Evelyn Hernandez, a young woman who lost her baby, in this country where anti-abortion legislation is one of the strictest in the world.
Evelyn Hernandez, now 21 but a teenager at the time, had already been sentenced in July 2017 to 30 years in prison but the decision was overturned in February by the Supreme Court, after 33 months behind bars.
"I just want to say that I'm innocent" and "I know that he (the judge) will do me justice," said when he arrived in court the young woman, black pants and gray top, who always explained that the baby was stillborn.
For this second trial, the Salvadoran public prosecutor's office changed her charge: Evelyn Hernandez is no longer charged with aggravated homicide with premeditation but negligent homicide. She faces 30 to 50 years in prison, according to the defense.
The case dates back to April 6, 2016, when the young woman gives birth to a baby in a toilet. Transferred to the hospital of the city of Cojutepeque (center), she is arrested and accused of homicide, said her lawyer Elizabeth Deras to AFP.
Initially it was reported that Evelyn Hernandez became pregnant after a rape, but her lawyer explained, without giving more details, prefer not to mention these circumstances at the request of the young woman who lives in a neighborhood gang-controlled and may be subject to retaliation.
To the cries of "Freedom for Evelyn!" and "Down with patriarchy!", about fifty feminists protested in the court of Ciudad Delgado, northeast of San Salvador, the capital.
In El Salvador, the Penal Code provides for a sentence of between two and eight years in prison for abortion cases, but, in fact, judges consider any loss of the baby as an "aggravated homicide", punishable by 30 to 50 years of imprisonment.
Currently, 16 women are in prison in El Salvador for abortions. In recent months, five women sentenced for similar cases have been released.
© 2019 AFP