‘Elsy’ was sentenced to 30 years for aggravated homicide over miscarriage and is fifth such woman to be released since December
El Salvador has released another woman imprisoned for aggravated homicide who after suffering an obstetric emergency was accused of aborting her pregnancy in a country where abortion under any circumstances is banned.
The woman, who activists helping her identified only as Elsy, had served more than a decade of a 30-year sentence. She was the fifth woman released before completion of her sentence since late December of last year.
“We celebrate that Elsy has been freed after being unjustly in prison a little more than 10 years,” said Morena Herrera, director of the non-profit Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion. “Her erroneous 30-year sentence for aggravated homicide has ended.”
Elsy’s sentence was commuted and her rights restored, Herrera said.
The woman was reunited with her family in Yayantique in eastern El Salvador on Wednesday.
In June 2011, Elsy, a 28-year-old single mother, was working as a domestic employee when she suffered an apparent miscarriage. She sought help, but instead of receiving medical assistance she was immediately arrested on the suspicion that she had aborted her pregnancy.
After a trial plagued by irregularities she was convicted and sentenced for aggravated homicide.
Herrera’s organization said Elsy did not have a legal defense from the public defender handling her case that protected her rights. Even after the supreme court of justice agreed to commute her sentence and the attorney general’s office signed off, her lawyers still had to appeal after a lower court refused to release her.
On 23 December, El Salvador released three women similarly imprisoned and a fourth on 17 January.
In the past 20 years, El Salvador has prosecuted 181 women who suffered obstetric emergencies. Herrera’s organization has succeeded in freeing 61 of them since 2009.
The inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled in November that El Salvador had violated the rights of a woman identified as Manuela who was sent to prison for breaching the abortion laws and died while serving her 30-year sentence.
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Resumen Latinoamericano, 10 de febrero de 2022.
Elsy, es la quinta mujer condenada bajo sospecha de provocarse un aborto que las autoridades salvadoreñas liberan desde diciembre de 2021.
Una mujer salvadoreña fue puesta en libertad el miércoles tras estar más de 10 años encarcelada tras sufrir una emergencia obstétrica que le provocó un aborto que es tipificado en el pais centroamericano como homicidio agravado.
«Celebramos que Elsy sea liberada después de estar en la cárcel durante 10 años. Su errónea sentencia de 30 años por homicidio agravado ha terminado», señaló en un comunicado Morena Herrera, presidenta de la Agrupación Ciudadana por la Despenalización del Aborto en El Salvador.
La femina conocida como Elsy, es la quinta mujer procesada y condenada bajo sospecha de provocarse un aborto que las autoridades liberan en el país centroamericano desde diciembre de 2021.
La activista Morena Herrera indicó que «todavía hay mujeres en prisión por emergencias obstétricas» por las que «continuaremos luchando».
Desde el movimiento lamentaron que un error en la interpretación de la resolución del Ministerio de Seguridad que avaló la conmutación de la pena, retrasó un mes y medio la liberación de Elsy.
En septiembre pasado, el presidente Nayib Bukele afirmó que dejaría fuera de una propuesta a la Constitución cualquier modificación a favor de la despenalización del aborto y el matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo.
Activistas de derechos humanos estiman que en los últimos 20 años, al menos 180 mujeres que han experimentado emergencias obstétricas han sido perseguidas penalmente en El Salvador.
En El Salvador, las mujeres que sufren complicaciones del embarazo que dan lugar a abortos espontáneos son habitualmente sospechosas de haberse practicado un aborto y habitualmente son procesadas bajo el cargo de homicidio agravado, cuya pena de cárcel es de 30 años.
