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News > Nicaragua

Nicaragua Approves Life Imprisonment for Femicides

  • The sign reads,

    The sign reads, "Nicaragua free of femicide, we want us alive," Managua, Nicaragua, March 8, 2020. | Photo: EFE

Published 26 January 2021
Opinion

The new law will apply in cases of aggravated murder and when the victim was either a pregnant woman or a woman older than 60.

Nicaragua approved life imprisonment for misogynists who rape and murder a woman in front of the victim's children.

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Life imprisonment "will not be retroactive. It will apply to those who commit grave crimes against girls or women as of Monday," said criminal law expert Jose Pallais.

The rule will also apply to those found guilty of aggravated murder, such as poisoning, asphyxiation, and arson, or when the victim was either pregnant or a woman over 60 years-old.

The new law changes the Penal Code, which previously imposed a maximum sentence of 30 years' imprisonment in femicide cases.

"This is the first law of its kind in the Nicaraguan history," Pallais assured while explaining that this is a " reviewable life sentence," thus the convicted person may appeal for parole after 30 years in jail.

The law will apply to murders caused by hate, intolerance, and discrimination, or motivated by the victim's economic and social status, religion, gender, skin color, nationality, disability, or profession.

In the past decade, 716 women were murdered in Nicaragua. Just in 2020, this country reported 76 femicides, the highest number in the last three years.

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