Peruvian President Dina Boluarte proposed opening a debate on the possibility of there being a death penalty for child rapists, following the case of a 12-year-old girl abused and murdered in Lima. In Peru, this sentence is only allowed for the crime of treason in cases of war and terrorism, but it has never been applied.
The death penalty is a recurring demand in Peru by some political sectors and among citizens in the face of spikes in crime and serious crimes such as the rape of children. However, it is not feasible to extend it to other crimes given that the country signed the American Convention on Human Rights, which restricts the application of the death penalty and promotes its abolition.
“It is time to open the debate on the death penalty for child rapists. We cannot allow guys like these to walk freely in the streets,” said Boluarte, at the presentation of a new satellite communication system for the Peruvian Air Force.
The president expressed her condolences to the family of a 12-year-old girl found dead after being sexually abused in the district of Villa María del Triunfo, in the southern part of Lima, and asked for a minute of silence.
“I call on the justice authorities, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Judiciary,” he mentioned. “We should not have any type of contemplation with those who dare to touch our boys, our girls. It is time that, faced with events of this magnitude, which should be inconceivable within a society, we propose drastic measures,” said Boluarte.
In Congress, there are eight bills that propose extending the death penalty to other crimes, that propose reforms to the Constitution, presented by different groups. The president of the Legislature, Eduardo Salhuana, was in favor of discussing the matter.
“I think it needs to be discussed, I think it needs to be analyzed. Peru is part of an international agreement. “We must review whether it is most convenient to withdraw or not and regarding the death penalty, it would be necessary to review whether it really contributes to combating illicit acts of this nature,” he told the press.
The mayor of Lima, Rafael López Aliaga, who leads the conservative Popular Renewal party, the fourth political force in Parliament, reiterated his support for the possibility of withdrawing from the Convention to extend the death penalty to other crimes in Peru.
“I have asked for it a long time ago. The big problem (that) we have is the Court of Human Rights, which are human rights for criminals and for ‘terrucos’ (terrorists). In the end, we always lose there. We have to get out of there,” he defended.
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