IPS-English PARAGUAY: Justice for Supermarket Fire Victims
 
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:05:50 -0700


ROMAIPS LA HD IF IP LB PR CU CS CV 
PARAGUAY: Justice for Supermarket Fire Victims - An Impossible Goal?
David Vargas

ASUNCIÓN, Jul 31   (IPS)  - Three years after the deadly fire at 
the Ycuá Bolaños supermarket, the worst civil disaster in the 
history of Paraguay, relatives of the 364 people killed and more 
than 500 injured in the blaze say they feel that convictions of 
those responsible are further away than ever.

A series of appeals presented by the defence lawyers of the 
accused makes it virtually impossible for the prosecution to go 
forward with a new oral trial on Aug. 8, as was ordered by the 
Supreme Court in December.

The Supreme Court annulled the first trial, which began in July 
2006, after relatives of the victims created serious 
disturbances, outraged by the lax sentences handed down by the 
judges. 

The court found the defendants guilty of culpable homicide, which 
carries a five year prison sentence, although the prosecutors 
asked for a verdict of intentional homicide, which carries prison 
sentences of up to 25 years.

But this did not affect the initial case brought by the public 
prosecutor's office.

Lawyers for the supermarket's shareholders have applied for 
disqualification of two of the three members of the court which 
is to judge the case.

This application must in turn be decided on by an appeals court, 
which has not yet been able to convene. Nineteen judges who were 
called to the court recused themselves on the grounds of 
friendship or enmity with the parties, being close to one of the 
victims, or simply because they lived in the area where the 
tragedy occurred on Aug. 1, 2004.

Liz Torres, a member of the Ycuá Bolaños Coordinating Committee 
of Victims, Relatives and Friends, told IPS that the judges' 
refusal to be involved in the case is infuriating and shameful, 
and shows that the Paraguayan justice system is incapable of 
working in a professional manner.

”From the beginning the whole affair has been totally distorted. 
That is a painful, sad and terrible thing to say, but it's true. 
Almost 400 people were burned to death but that hasn't made the 
system's attitude any more humane,” she said.

Apart from the disqualification of the judges, there are six 
further appeals proposed by the defence lawyers, among them a 
request to annul the trial, which casts a further shadow on the 
chances of an oral trial commencing soon.

The hurdles blocking the start of the new trial ”are part of a 
strategy by the accused to delay their prosecution, which could 
even be dropped in August 2008 if no sentence has been 
pronounced,” Roberto Almirón, a representative of the Association 
of Victims and Relatives of Ycuá Bolaños, told IPS.

”If a simple disqualification application against the members of 
the court can't be decided, how will they make decisions on the 
other six appeals presented by the defendants' lawyers?” asked 
Almirón.

According to Paraguay's Criminal Code, if a sentence has not been 
handed down within three years of a lawsuit's start date, it 
automatically lapses and the accused are acquitted and released.

However, public prosecutor Edgar Sánchez said it was unlikely 
that such a frustrating event would happen. He said Law 2,341, 
better known as the Camacho Law after its author, tacitly 
indicates that presentation of appeals automatically interrupts 
the timeline of a trial.

Lawyer Alejandro Nissen, who is representing 70 victims of the 
tragedy, nevertheless petitioned the sentencing court to 
”formally” interrupt the trial timeline, out of concern that the 
case could lapse.

”We don't want to be taken by surprise in a few months' time, 
with the defence requesting the case be declared lapsed, so we 
need a legal decision,” Nissen told IPS.   

Juan Pío Paiva, the owner of the Ycuá Bolaños supermarket, his 
son Víctor Daniel Paiva and Daniel Areco, a security guard, are 
in prison awaiting the oral phase of the trial. They are charged 
with homicide and subjecting people to dangerous working 
conditions.

The remaining members of the board of directors of the company, 
including the owner's wife, are also charged with allowing 
dangerous working conditions, but are free on bail.

The organisations of relatives and victims of the fire issued a 
communiqué protesting the possible termination of the case due to 
defence appeals causing it to run out of time.

”For nearly three years we have watched impotently while in our 
‘legal market' the merchants of sentences have repeatedly used 
legal tricks to gain time and very probably to achieve impunity 
for those guilty of the greatest collective homicide in 
peacetimeà in Paraguayan legal history and possibly the world's,” 
the document says.

For the victims, the long drawn out legal process is increasingly 
painful. Rafael Benítez, who survived the fire, complained about 
the judges' lack of commitment to the case. 

”I am crushed every moment I remember the victims. My daughter, 
Estela Benítez, died, and her husband is alive but still 
convalescing. This should all have been settled a long time ago,” 
he told IPS.  

Meanwhile, victims' organisations are preparing to commemorate 
the third anniversary of the tragedy this Wednesday.

Under the banner ”No Peace without Justice, Yes to Life, Nothing 
for Sale,” the planned activities include a demonstration in 
front of the Palace of Justice, debates, an art exhibition called 
”Art for Memory's Sake” and a thanksgiving mass in front of the 
ruins of the former supermarket, now converted into a shrine.

The fire at the Ycuá Bolaños supermarket in Asunción began at 
11:45 a.m. local time, when it was crowded with over 800 people. 
A gas explosion in the kitchen spread to the food court and to 
both floors of the building, as well as the built-in car park.

Survivors of the tragedy told how people rushed for the exits, 
only to find that the doors were locked. Newspaper articles and 
witnesses at the trial declared that the doors had been closed by 
order of the owners, to make sure nobody left without paying for 
their purchases.


***** + PARAGUAY: Not a Single Conviction, a Year After 
Supermarket Tragedy - 2005 
(http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=29739) + PARAGUAY: Tragic 
Fire Denudes Layers of Negligence - 2004 
(http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=24908)


(END/IPS/LA IP IF LB PR HD CU CS CV/TRASP-VD-SW/DV/DM/07) 


 
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