In a joint statement from the Ministry of Communications, authorities reported that non-jury criminal trials and correctional trials will take place until January 31.
Likewise, they assured that the measure will be beneficial for the justice system and appreciated the commitment of the judiciary and judicial staff.
In mid-October, the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Council set up a special commission to study how best to reduce preventive detention, which currently affects eight out of ten prisoners.
Additionally, a United Nations report found that the country’s prisons are four times larger than their capacity, leaving inmates with just 0.24 square meters to survive on “barely more than the surface area of a chair.”
The document notes that prisons face a serious food and medical care crisis while inmates are served only one meal a day.
The prisoners’ access to medical care is almost non-existent; there is only one doctor for every 1,016 prisoners, and the supply of medication is scarce and limited.
Children do not escape this phenomenon either, because according to the independent UN human rights expert William O’Neill, the occupancy rate of the center for the re-education of minors in conflict with the law (Cermicol) is 350 percent.
O’Neill criticized the fact that 99 percent of imprisoned children were not convicted and most were imprisoned for years for stealing a chicken, shoes or a phone without ever seeing a judge.
Last week, authorities set up a crime headquarters in Cermicol and began holding special public hearings to combat the problem.
rgh/ane