MANAGUA/MEXICO CITY, Jan 27 (NNN-TELESUR) — Nicaragua approved life imprisonment for misogynists who rape and murder a woman in front of the victim’s children.
Life imprisonment “will not be retroactive. It will apply to those who commit grave crimes against girls or women as of Monday,” said criminal law expert Jose Pallais.
The rule will also apply to those found guilty of aggravated murder, such as poisoning, asphyxiation, and arson, or when the victim was either pregnant or a woman over 60 years-old.
The new law changes the Penal Code, which previously imposed a maximum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment in femicide cases.
“This is the first law of its kind in the Nicaraguan history,” Pallais assured while explaining that this is a ” reviewable life sentence,” thus the convicted person may appeal for parole after 30 years in jail.
The law will apply to murders caused by hate, intolerance, and discrimination, or motivated by the victim’s economic and social status, religion, gender, skin color, nationality, disability, or profession.
In the past decade, 716 women were murdered in Nicaragua. Just in 2020, this country reported 76 femicides, the highest number in the last three years.
Separately, MEXICO’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) reported on Tuesday that femicides rose considerably during the first half of 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Inegi, there were 17,123 homicides during January and June last year. At least 1,844 women were murdered during the first half of 2020, ten more cases than the previous year. Nonetheless, men represent 86 percent of the murdered population in Mexico.
The organization Cero Impunity reported that femicides have increased in Mexico by 137 percent in the previous five years, and Baja California Sur state stands out regarding impunity. During 2019 alone, the state did not resolve any case of femicide.
After gathering data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Cero Impunity concluded that Mexico ranks sixth among the 93 countries with the world’s highest homicides rates. El Salvador and Jamaica were at the top of the list. — NNN-TELESUR
