"We, at the Attorney General Office, have never overused imprisonment"

In Venezuela, there are more than 900 criminal judges; last year, they issued 455,000 rulings. Notwithstanding, about additional 100,000 cases remained unsettled.

During an atypical ceremony to commence the legal year last Tuesday, January 31, at the headquarters of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ); Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez disclosed the adoption of measures to prevent similar numbers. There, he revealed that Attorney General Luisa Ortega Díaz had sent to him a proposal to set up municipal courts, intended to, as he said, deal with the docket.

The news took quite a few in the judiciary by surprise. Therefore, El Universal spoke to the Attorney General for her to give a thorough account of her proposal.

President Chávez confessed that you sent to him a paper where you proposed the establishment of municipal criminal courts. What is the difference with the existing ones?

We must solve the issue of the docket at courts, the judiciary. Since 2008, I have proposed municipal justice to make it faster and easier to handle, so that every time there is a crime, the State's responsiveness will be prompt.

What about just setting up more courts like the existing ones?

Such a way of prosecution is no longer in force. There is the need to speed up justice, as justice should not be tardy...

What would be the benefit of it?

The municipal prosecutor offices we have opened since 2008 have proved that we can attain such goal and they also help relieve overcrowding in jails. As these offices are entitled only to hear cases involving crimes the penalty of which cannot exceed three years, therefore, they may implement alternative prosecution measures. In other words, if an investigated subject admits the facts, he/she will serve a sentence, but not behind bars; he/she could render services in public institutions. In Lara state, there is an environmental public prosecutor with great experience in this area and he has instructed people facing trial for environmental crimes to plant trees, clean squares and deliver speeches.

If such structures come true, how much the docket would be shortened?

I would dare say by about 60%.

Is a legal reform required for such changes?

Yes, because the status of municipal criminal courts should be included in the Organic Code of Criminal Procedure (COPP).

People accused of robbery, injuries, swindle or environmental crimes do not need to end up in a jail. Those cases should be heard by regular criminal courts. The State's punitive power sometimes has too much clout on the underprivileged and on minor cases.

You mean that the State's punitive power is many a time not quite fair. Well, some lawyers put the blame on the Attorney General Office precisely because it fails to act fairly and they contend that in most cases heard by it, the Attorney General Office asks to send people to jail, as if the law would not allow for other measures. What can you answer to this?

While the Attorney General Office takes the criminal action, our role is chasing criminals, under the COPP (...) We have never made excessive use of imprisonment. The Attorney General deems it that prisons do not solve the issue of crime. The issue of crime is much deeper and this is why we have brought forward alternatives such as municipal justice.

Following the riot at El Rodeo jail last June, it was said that about 8,000 people ought not to be in there because the crimes for which they were being investigated or had been convicted allowed for different sanctions. Why did that happen?

The fact of the matter is that we have an inquisitive culture. For 70 years, we were under the Criminal Prosecution Code; it is hard to change that. The Constitution provides for presumption of innocence; imprisonment is the exception, whereas freedom is the rule, whenever inquests are being held. Nonetheless, there is no culture for that matter among justice administrators. It has not been accepted that all of us are not guilty before the law and when a crime is attributed, the State should produce evidence of it. So long as there is no sentence, we are not guilty. It is hard to change such mindset; changing laws is much easier. However, if there is the political will -and I think there is- we will take a leap.

jalonso@eluniversal.com

Translated by Conchita Delgado