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Published Wednesday, March 10, 2021
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The deputies of Congress approved bill No.21,793 in the first round of votes, which reforms several articles of the Law on Penalization for Violence against Women.
According to Congress, the modification in the articles allows for a longer period of time to identify and report the crime. The law also protects women previously attacked or murdered by their partners or other criminals.
The law includes crimes of violence against women made by the boyfriend, or the partner while they are living together or also not living together. As well as when the crime happens during the marriage, during the divorce process or after divorce. It also covers if the crime happens after the breakup or separation of the couple.
The law also provides a space if the crime happens due to any other circumstance not included in the aforementioned situations.
According to deputy Aida Montiel, who was the proponent of the bill, it was necessary to make an expansion of the law, due to the issues that happen regularly when ex-boyfriends or ex-spouses murder women. "If the criminal law is not precise there is a risk that there is not a consistent application of the criminal penalties," she said.
Deputy Nielsen Pérez, who voted in favor of the bill, added that it is important to strengthen the law of violence against women so that behaviors considered natural are punished.
After deputies approve those motions in the second round of votes, the law will apply a penalty of 20 to 35 years in prison for those men who murder women with whom they have or had a relationship.
The change in law now better defines the crime of femicide. In the past being tried for femicide was unheard of, because it did not fall within the direct parameters established by the original law, No.8589 on the Penalties of Violence Against Women.
One of the most recent convictions of a man for femicide occurred in February when a judge of the Heredia Criminal Court ordered a man, surnamed Brenes, to serve 35 years in prison for the murder of his wife, a woman surnamed Fernández.
According to the Public Ministry, the case started in 2018 when Brenes strangulated her. The man admitted the crime during the trial.
In many countries, the prison for life sentence happens in first-degree murder cases, when the crime happens in it an aggravated form. For example, according to the Criminal Law of the United States, the aggravating factors of first-degree murder may include a specific intent to kill, premeditation, or deliberation, such as strangulation, poisoning, or lying in wait are also treated as first-degree murder.
In Costa Rica, there is no life sentence for a first-degree murder crime.
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