Global Courant
One week after the telematic control was available, lawyers and security specialists affirm that there is not enough information on how the system that the Ministry of the Interior (Mingob) implemented at a cost of Q110 million works for the lease of two thousand devices.
Security specialists do not rule out that this method is susceptible to corruption; In addition, they suggest reducing costs to make it more accessible and to fulfill the purpose of decrowding prisons.
The Law for the Implementation of Telematic Control in Criminal Proceedings was approved in 2016 to regulate the application of this type of control to persons subject to criminal proceedings, and guarantee that substitute measures and controlled freedom are complied with.
Provision
As of June 1, persons deprived of their liberty at the national level may opt for the use of a telematic control device as an alternative method to preventive detention.
However, a week after this regulation came into force, the Mingob has not yet monitored any prisoner and they have not registered any request from the Judicial Branch, since it is the defense attorney who must make the request to the judge and the latter, based on the profile and process faced by the accused, he will decide if he is suitable to be included in the program, said Jorge Aguilar, Mingob spokesman. He added that training was given to the personnel of the Judicial Branch (OJ) during 13 sessions to inform how the system works.
The judge must also analyze whether the subject of the process has the capacity to pay for the service of this system, whose rate is Q50 per day and Q1,500 per month. These income will be directed to Mingob and to cover administrative expenses and maintenance of the Telematic Control Unit.
Rudy Esquivel, spokesman for the OJ, said he was unaware if there are any inmates who have requested house arrest through their lawyers through telematic control, since each judge at the national level will be responsible for analyzing whether this is applicable.
extent.
costs
For the lawyer and legal consultant, Andy Javalois, one of the challenges for Mingob is to make access to these devices available to the population and not generate more overcrowding in prisons.
One of the options that the consultant proposes is that universities, and especially engineering faculties, become involved in projects to design “ankle or wristbands” similar to those implemented by the Government and that they be acquired at low cost, or that the “The State assumes part of that cost, according to the economic situation of each person processed.”
“The overcrowding is done by prisoners in preventive detention. Many cannot pay for the talacha in prisons, much less will they be able to pay for a device”, says Javalois.
The lawyer does not rule out that this project is susceptible to corruption, to the extent that its correct use is not disclosed, stating that lawyers, judges and prosecutors are unaware of its use.
“The direct responsibility of the information processes corresponds to the Bar Association, the information is important, especially for lawyers who litigate in the criminal area. There must also be inter-institutional coordination between the OJ and the Public Ministry,” he recommends.
An attempt was made to contact the president of the Bar Association, Mario Antonio Siekavizza, by telephone, but it was not possible.
profiles
“If an extremely dangerous gang member arrives, he will surely have the resources to pay for the telematics system, but he will surely commit crimes or extort money from his home, that is what must be avoided,” says the former Defense Minister and security analyst. , Ronaldo Leiva, when delimiting that the judges must analyze well the profiles of the defendants to grant the benefit of this type of control.
“These devices cannot be placed on a high level criminal because they will have money to maintain it and much more; he won’t want to be in jail and may even pay to have them removed,” he notes.
Faced with the possibility that it could lend itself to corruption, he adds that “there may be, if someone should not obtain that benefit but that the judge decided that it is granted.”
Rejection
“I requested the arrest of two of my defendants through telematic control, but the judge decided to give them house arrest in the traditional way. As the other measures are more common, it was decided by those.
Telematic control is more viable and secure because it is controlled in real time, minute by minute and you do not have to sign the book every 15 days”, says lawyer César Calderón, regarding the petition he made last Wednesday before the Fifth First Court Criminal Instance, in the Court Tower.
Calderón’s defendants are prosecuted for illicit association and illegal human trafficking. For the lawyer, the problem is that the system is still unknown to most of his colleagues and judges.
“This system is a modernity and is extremely useful and rather it is implemented late in Guatemala,” the lawyer points out.
