Government considers presenting law to restrict benefits for convicts

To see international photos, click here

SANTIAGO.- Minister of Interior Belisario Velasco has not ruled out the possibility that the Government may propose a future law to restrict benefits awarded to those who pose a threat to society because of crimes they have committed.

This comes after the recent crimes committed against police officer Luis Moyano and businesswoman María Soledad Lapostol were linked to suspects who had been awarded some kind of penalty reduction.

In the homicide case of María Soledad Lapostol, minister Velasco made it clear that the prime suspect, 33 year-old Luis Andrés Araya Galaz, had benefited from law number 19,856 (a law which establishes a system of social reinsertion of convicts based on good behavior). This law had been "considerably debated in Congress" and "in a commission directed by a minister from the Court of Appeals, a group that did not include the Minister of Interior and which involved the Minister of Justice merely to legalize the commission's agreement".

This was Velasco's response to the demands of UDI deputies Darío Paya and Alejandro García-Huidobro, who called on the Government yesterday to "give an explanation of why the government has favored individuals who have committed serious crimes".