To the political scientist Sandro Arreola, In the “rush” to approve opinions in the Congress of the Union, there are points and agreements pending in the laws and in the debates, such as in the approval of the General Law to Prevent, Investigate and Punish Crimes Related to Extortion, He regretted that in the Chamber of Deputies contributions from the victims were not heard and the creation of a prosecutor’s office specialized in the investigation of extortion, as occurs with other crimes, was not contemplated.
By giving the State the power to investigate extortion ex officio, without the need for a complaint, a specialized prosecutor’s office “is essential” for the new law to be applied correctly. “From now on, there is no agency to investigate, as stated by law, ex officio. “That would be something to look forward to.”
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He also warned that the law does not specify crimes committed through telephone calls and extortion by public servants. “A large majority of extortions are by telephone, so there is a gap between knowing what a virtual kidnapping and a telephone extortion are. It seems to me that this is not very clear, that is, asking for a ransom in a virtual kidnapping would seem to have more of an extortion character,” he commented.
“The other, and the most important, is that there is no talk of extortion of authorities. The law does not contemplate substantial changes in the anti-corruption system. That is, there is also extortion by public servants and it is not contemplated either,” he added.
Meanwhile, one of the controversial points, the specialist highlighted, is the reservation presented by deputy Ricardo Monreal, which seeks to reduce prison sentences for public servants who fail to report crimes of extortion.. The original ruling contemplated sentences of 10 to 20 years for police officers, public ministries, directors of penitentiary centers, among others, however, the modification reduces the penalties from five to 12 years.
“If the authority is not very proactive in investigating proven crimes, then let’s now imagine with possibilities or with the presumption that they exist. It seems to me that this is a weakness of the law.”
Yet, Arreola acknowledged that the new law has positive points, such as the protection of the identity of the victims when reporting and the possibility of investigating extortion by ex officio. With this, he said, more tools are provided to strengthen the investigation folders, as well as the security strategy of the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch.
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The post ‘They were left pending in the new law against extortion,’ says expert appeared first on Veritas News.
