The Constitutional Court green-lighted the law that makes punishable by imprisonment the improper relationships between adults and minors, approved in the first reading by the Legislative Assembly on August 29th. The legislators concluded that there are no vices of unconstitutional nature, after resolving a query raised by a group of legislators headed by Otto Guevara.
According to the act, it is punishable with imprisonment to have oral, anal or vaginal intercourse with a minor, on the condition that it is not a rape, in the following cases:
-When the victim is older than 13 years old and younger than 15 years old and the perpetrator is 5 or more years older, the punishment will be imprisonment from three to six years.
-When the victim is over 15 years old and under 18 years old and the perpetrator is 7 or more years older, the person will be imprisoned from two to three years.
-When the perpetrator is related to the victim, such as an uncle, an aunt, a brother, a sister or a cousin, by blood or affinity, or if the offender is a guardian or in a position of trust or authority over the victim or the victim’s family, the punishment will be imprisonment from 4 to 10 years.
Now the initiative must be voted by the legislative plenary on a second reading.