By Diógenes Freire
(Opinion) A little over a year after celebrating the decision of the Constitutional Court of Colombia that authorized abortion up to 6 months of gestation, Colombian parliamentarians from the extreme left want the approval of a law that, in practice, punishes Christians.
The bill (PL), authored by Senator María José Pizarro Rodríguez, provides mechanisms to promote mass exits from detention amid allegations of prison overcrowding and human rights violations.
Despite her justifications, the bill repeals two articles of the Colombian Penal Code, articles 201 and 203.
Repealing these two provisions would mean the guarantee of impunity in cases of persecution of Christians.
Article 201 punishes with up to two years in prison the crime of “violation to religious freedom,” and Article 203 imposes a fine to those who commit the crime of “damage to objects of religious worship.”
Without quoting this part of the bill, the author said the goal is to “humanize the country’s prison system”.
“It is a tortuous reality, almost of perpetual punishment; the idea is really to unload the prison system.”
“In this PL, there are diverse interests; we believe we can advance as a dialogue in favor of the Colombian judicial system,” said María José Pizarro.
According to Open Doors, “If approved (the proposal), the little legal basis that Christians had to defend themselves when attacked or persecuted will be extinguished.”
“With this, crimes that violate religious freedom may go unpunished,” and “the (Colombian) government justifies the decision by claiming that the number of reports of these crimes is very small.”
According to Open Doors, Colombia has advanced eight positions this year in the world ranking of countries with the greatest persecution of Christians.
Open Doors researchers attribute this jump to the “increase in violence” in general, “criminal gangs targeting Christians,” and “intolerance of religion.”
By the metric used, Colombians already face “severe persecution.”
The bill is still under consideration but already has the sympathy of the president of Colombia, ex-guerrilla Gustavo Petro.
In February of this year, Petro proposed a generous deal with drug traffickers to avoid severe punishment by the courts.
Petro’s idea is to offer benefits – such as reduced sentences and permission for the accused to keep part of their fortune – in exchange for the criminals’ promise that they will “give up” command of narco-trafficking.
With information from Brasil Sem Medo