Among the changes that have been proposed for the different control entities in the country, the Attorney General’s Office is one of the ones that might have the most changes, at least in the medium term it might ‘lose’ one of the most important dependencies in terms of research, we are talking regarding the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. A bill that will be filed today Historical Pactintends that the entity focus on the search and clarification of cases of disappeared persons, some 120 thousand are estimated to be in the country, giving a reform and renovation to this crime laboratory.
The initiative seeks for the entity to become independent, in fact, it would act as another institution that is part of the Judicial Branch, but with its own legal status, its own assets and autonomy in technical and financial terms. It would even stop being called Legal Medicine, to be known as the National Scientific Technical Institute of Forensic Sciences.
According to law 938 of 2004in articles 34, 35 and 36, it is said that the entity is attached to the prosecutionwith interference at the national level, but this is precisely what this reform seeks to change, according to the senator of the Historical Pact, Gustavo Bolívarallowing you to have more transparency in the processes you carry out.
“The Institute of Legal Medicine is today an appendage of the Attorney General’s Office and this does not guarantee transparency, and does not guarantee the reliability of the judicial system, because in a country where, unfortunately, corruption and political influences abound, , well, we have seen how by being appointed directly by the prosecutor, at any past or future time, the director of legal medicine is a person who must guarantee the country the transparency of forensic investigations, and this might be subject to some type of manipulation, then, to avoid this, what we do is create an autonomous entity, so that the institute is called from now on the National Scientific Technical Institute of Forensic Sciences, completely transforming the institute, separating it from the Prosecutor’s Office and serving to form an institute to provide guarantees to the victims, who do not see the speed and agility in the identification of bodies, for example, in the exhumation of corpses of the disappeared, etc. ”, explained the senator during the presentation of the bill.
Opposite the last point referred to Gustavo Bolivarthe bill intends to create an identification office for victims of the armed conflict, thus improving the mechanisms and optimizing the processes in the bodies, even giving it a space within the cemeteries themselves to carry out their criminal work.
The initiative reveals a lack of coverage, since of the 1,122 municipalities in the country, the entity only has regarding 2,270 officials, who barely manage to cover just over 10% of the national territory.
The main idea is to streamline the victim identification processes. prevent interference by the prosecutionrenovate the plant and facilities, which would decongest, in part, the judicial and accusatory system, but at the same time, giving it total autonomy in its verdicts and appointments.
The institute currently has a portfolio with more than a dozen professional services, including forensic, psychiatric, psychological, justice and reparation issues:
“It is important to point out that our laboratories also answer queries and provide advice on matters that concern them, to the prosecution units, courts and other competent authorities, and serve as a verification and control body for the expert evidence and forensic examinations carried out by the State Judicial Police bodies and other agencies at the request of the competent authority”, explains the entity, emphasizing that all this is provided free of charge.
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