2024-10-03 02:49:36
In compliance with the citizen mandate and before the established deadline, the Plenary Session of the National Assembly initiated the draft Organic Law for the Application of the Popular Consultation and Referendum of April 21, 2024, which reforms the Comprehensive Organic Penal Code (COIP) and the Organic Law of Domain Extinction.
At the request of the president of the Multiparty Commission, Carlos Vera Mora, the second debate was suspended for 48 hours until the new observations made by the legislators were analyzed.
The topics discussed were the State’s actions against crime, sanctions for corruption and white-collar crime, application of the principle of proportionality of sentences, criminal dosimetry, limits of the ruling of the Constitutional Court, the need to combat organized crime, promotion of public policies focused on the causes, a comprehensive plan to combat crime, and the increase in crimes by 200%.
Prior to the debate, in the general commission, the expert Pablo Encalada reflected on the necessary proportionality between crimes and penalties, considering the legal assets injured. He suggested analyzing penalties for crimes of terrorism, organized crime, illegal mining and others.
The reform to the COIP increases penalties for twelve crimes: human trafficking; murder; hitman; extortionate kidnapping; illicit production of scheduled substances subject to control; illicit trafficking of scheduled substances subject to control; illicit activity of mining resources; money laundering; illicit trafficking in firearms, chemical, nuclear or biological weapons; terrorism; terrorist financing; and, organized crime. Depending on the seriousness of the infraction, in some cases the maximum penalty reaches 30 years of deprivation of liberty.
It also includes more crimes in which people deprived of liberty will not be able to access the open and semi-open regime, within the social rehabilitation process; criminalizes the crime of unauthorized possession and carrying of weapons, ammunition or components for the exclusive use of the Armed Forces or for the exclusive use of the National Police; and, legally determines the destination of weapons, their parts, explosives, ammunition or accessories that were instruments or material object of a crime.
Meanwhile, in relation to the reform of the Organic Law of Asset Forfeiture, it is established that the illicit activity will be related to the crimes of concussion, bribery, embezzlement, illicit enrichment, money laundering, production, marketing or illicit trafficking of scheduled substances subject to inspection, trafficking in persons, terrorism or its financing, murder, hitmen, kidnapping for ransom, arms trafficking, illicit activity of mining resources and organized crime.