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News > Latin America

House Arrest Confirmed for Argentine Activist Milagro Sala

  • Milagro Sala was arrested on January 16, 2016

    Milagro Sala was arrested on January 16, 2016 | Photo: EFE

Published 18 August 2017
Opinion

Sala was arrested on Jan.16, 2016, after being accused of "inciting criminal acts" linked to a protest she led against authorities.

Indigenous leader Milagro Sala transfer from jail to house arrest in the town of El Carmen in Jujuy provine, a late and partial fulfillment of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights' order has been confirmed by two judges involved in the case, Gaston Mercau and Pablo Pullen.

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Lawyers Denounce Breach of House Arrest for Milagro Sala

Sala will have to wear an electronic bracelet and the building will be watched by the military police around the clock.

The transfer decision came after the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ordered the Argentine government to release Sala from jail, and grant her house arrest or electronic-controlled detention due to the irreparable harm her prison sentence was causing.

The sentence highlighted that the IACHR recommendation was not compulsory and based on the “alleged risk for Sala's life.”

Sala's lawyer has earlier rejected the decision by the court to sentence her to detention in the building, which is located more than 40 kilometers away from San Salvador de Jujuy.

Elizabeth Gomez said the house, which was reportedly built as a drug rehabilitation center, is in poor condition and alleges it was vandalized during Milagro’s 18-month-long detention. She also said it has no toilets, windows or electricity.

Last year, the United Nations demanded that the government release Sala, while the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention described her incarceration as "arbitrary.”

As head of Argentina's Tupac Amaru neighborhood association, part of the Association of State Workers of Jujuy, Sala won a seat in 2015 in the regional parliament of the Mercosur trade group of South American nations, Parlasur.

She was arrested on January 16, 2016, after being accused of "inciting criminal acts" linked to a protest she led against authorities.

The Jujuy provincial government in northern Argentina then broadened the charges, alleging her movement had "embezzled public funds" meant for the construction of housing for low-income people.

Sala has denied any wrongdoing.

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