Argentina: Detention of Indigenous Lawmaker Ruled Illegal
Argentina: Detention of Indigenous Lawmaker Ruled Illegal
Published 28 February 2016
Indigenous leader and lawmaker Milagro Sala, was voted into office in 2013 so legally she cannot be detained for her activism, the body said.
The ongoing detention of Milagro Sala, an Indigenous lawmaker and activist, is illegal, according to an official report by Argentina's Office of Institutional Violence (Procuvin).
“Our verdict says Milagro Sala is illegally detained, and that the two judges and the prosecutor who participated in this process have committed crimes under the penal code, on the basis that Milagro Sala has [parliamentary] privileges,” said Miguel Palazzani, director of Procuvin, a special government body created to monitor the state use of torture, abuse of power and other forms of institutional violence.
“What the judges should have done, if they were considering that they needed to detain her, is to declare the article that gives [parliamentary] privileges unconstitutional or start a process of impeachment, things they did not do,” said Palazzani after the institution's report was released over the weekend.
Sala is a well-known Indigenous leader and founder of the 70,000 member Tupac Amaru organization. She is also a member of parliament in the province of Jujuy.
More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Argentina-Detention-of-Indigenous-Lawmaker-Ruled-Illegal-20160228-0012.html
