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The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, proposed this Tuesday (10) the death penalty for rapists of minors. The speech comes as a response to the murder of a 12-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted in a poor neighborhood in Lima.
A supporter of the hard line against crime, the conservative president stated that “the time” has come to discuss the reestablishment of the death penalty, which was abolished in 1979.
“It is time, faced with facts of this magnitude, which should be inconceivable within a society, to present drastic measures. It’s time to open the debate on the death penalty for child rapists,” said Boluarte.
President of Peru, Dina Boluarte/Photo: Reproduction
During a public ceremony before the Peruvian Air Force, the president expressed her outrage at the teenager’s murder. Her body was found on Sunday (8), in the south of the Peruvian capital.
The girl had been reported missing on Saturday (7). Her body was found wrapped in blankets and rugs under the 26-year-old alleged attacker’s bed. The suspect was identified as Gerson Juárez, according to authorities. He’s arrested.
This Tuesday, a judge in Lima ordered seven days of preventive detention against the suspect.
“We cannot allow people like these to walk free on the streets. […] We must not have any type of contemplation with anyone who dares to touch our boys and girls, who are the most sacred and untouchable thing for our Peruvian families”, emphasized Boluarte.
The death penalty can only be reestablished through a constitutional reform approved by Congress. The initiative, however, would conflict with international commitments made by Peru in defense of human rights and against this type of punishment.
Since 1995, the Legislative Branch has shelved at least eight bills that sought to restore the death penalty in the country.
Current legislation provides for life imprisonment for rapists of children under 14 years of age. According to the National Penitentiary Institute, 8,491 people are currently serving sentences for this crime.
