Mexico: the new Amnesty Law will allow AMLO to release criminals who cooperate
The recently reformed law, supported by the House and Senate, empowers the president to directly grant freedom to persons sentenced or in judicial proceedings who collaborate in the clarification of crimes.
The Chamber of Deputies of Mexico approved - with 250 votes in favor, 197 against and zero abstentions - a reform to the Amnesty Law. This measure gives power to the president of the country to release people sentenced or in judicial proceedings who collaborate in the clarification of crimes.
The measure authorizes the head of the Executive to give legal forgiveness without having to follow the traditional established procedure. According to the text, "amnesty can be granted directly, without being subject to the established procedure, to people prosecuted, sentenced and who provide verifiable elements that are useful to know the truth of the facts in cases that are relevant":
The reform had previously been approved by the Senate, and has already been sent to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) for it to be promulgated and come into force.
The opposition against: it is equivalent to "giving the keys" of the prisons to the president
The reform of the Amparo Law was also approved in the Chamber. This will prevent judges from suspending rules and measures that have been challenged in the courts. One of the main confrontations that has always existed between AMLO and the country's Judiciary.
In his morning conference, President López Obrador commented that with the reform - for example - he could offer amnesty in the case of the disappearance of the 43 students from the Ayotzinapa school (Guerrero).
Opponents of the Obrador Government described the measure as typical of "totalitarian regimes" and assured that this is equivalent to "giving the keys" to the prisons to the president.