IPS-English PARAGUAY: Victims of Supermarket Fire Protest ‘Lax' Sentences Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:23:08 -0800 David Vargas ASUNCION, Feb 4 (IPS) - Survivors and relatives of victims of the Ycuá Bolaños supermarket fire in Paraguay were overcome with indignation and grief at the reading of the court's ruling on the disaster, which killed 364 people and injured over 500 in 2004. The three-judge panel sentenced Juan Pío Paiva, the chief shareholder of the company owning the supermarket, to 12 years in prison for negligent homicide and endangering people in the workplace. His son, Víctor Daniel Paiva, was convicted on the same charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison, and a private security guard who worked for the supermarket, Daniel Areco, was sentenced to five years. Areco was accused of locking the supermarket doors to stop people from leaving without paying, which caused mass death by smoke inhalation among customers shopping that Sunday morning of Aug.1, 2004. Humberto Casaccia, a shareholder in the supermarket company, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail Three other members of the board, María Victoria Cáceres de Paiva, Antolina Burgos de Casaccia, and Agustín Alfonso, were acquitted. The court's decision satisfied no one, but the victims' families were the most outraged. Cries of ”not fair,” ”there's no justice,” and ”that's not enough!” broke the tense silence in a square close to the courtroom, where hundreds of relatives and those affected by the tragedy gathered Saturday to listen to the trial verdict. Victims' organisations had placed 400 empty white chairs in the square, in memory of the vdeceased. After the sentences were announced, the chairs were turned upside down as a sign of disapproval of the leniency of the sentences. Liz Torres, head of the Ycuá Bolaños Relatives and Victims Association, told reporters that they would appeal the sentences, and ask for the maximum sentence of 25 years' imprisonment. The prosecution had called for the maximum sentence, arguing that the accused had ordered and implemented closure of the doors to prevent looting. ”We're angry at this decision, but we hope that we can get longer sentences on appeal,” said Torres, a survivor of the fire, whose husband was badly burned but also survived. She has become one of the main spokespersons for victims' organisations. Roberto Almirón, another victims' leader, said that they had foreseen this outcome. ”Light sentences for people who killed nearly 400 people. It's a disgrace. I'm very angry,” he told IPS. Lawyer for the plaintiffs Alejandro Nissen also announced that he would appeal the sentences. ”The acquittal of three of the accused is an insult. We don't know the reason. We will only see the arguments when we get a copy of the sentence, but I can tell you that we will appeal,” he said. Meanwhile, prosecutor Edgar Sánchez said they must closely study the sentence to find out whether an appeal is viable. Sánchez was roundly criticised by the judges for his ”feeble investigative work.” The preamble to the sentence states that the judges had to base their findings on a final deposition by a plaintiff. The defendants, who entered a plea of innocent and requested acquittal, were held on remand from the date of the fire until mid-2007, when the judges granted them conditional release. ”This is a biased sentence. The main accusation was about closing the doors, and our defence focused on that point,” said Luis Escobar, Juan Pío Paiva's lawyer. ”But the main thing is that my client will be free during the litigation, and we can dispute the rest during the appeal,” he added. Both the prosecution and the defence have 10 days in which to appeal the sentences. A court case is pending against Bernardo Ismachowiez, the architect who designed the supermarket, who is being held in a state prison. His public oral trial is set for March. He is charged with dangerous construction practices, because the forensic evidence revealed several flaws in the safety features of the Ycuá Bolaños supermarket building. Local authorities in Asunción responsible for inspecting and approving buildings of this kind were acquitted during the trial. An unprecedented security operation was seen around the courthouse on Saturday, in order to prevent disturbances like the one on Dec. 5, 2006, when the first trial was annulled. On that occasion, two of the three judges in the previous trial considered the principal persons accused to be guilty of culpable homicide, which has a maximum penalty of five years in jail, although the prosecution was seeking 25. Victims' relatives were incensed at the light sentences and reacted violently, destroying the audience hall and going on to vandalise other supermarkets belonging to Juan Pío Paiva. Because of the rioting, the Supreme Court took the unprecedented step of annulling the first trial and ordering a new one. After a string of judges recused themselves, the second oral trial began on Aug. 8, 2007. The defence asked the court to dismiss the case on the grounds of double jeopardy. A further 52 objections were entered by the other defendants to block the trial, but in a controversial decision on Sept. 5 the justice authorities ruled out double jeopardy and allowed the new trial to go ahead. The blaze was the worst peace time tragedy in the history of Paraguay. The official death toll was 364, with 11 people still missing, although victims' organisations say 400 were killed. Over 400 were also seriously injured. The fire broke out at 11:25 a.m. local time, when the supermarket was packed with over 800 people. A gas explosion in a kitchen spread through the food court and raged through the building's two storeys and car park. Survivors said there was a stampede to the exit doors, which they found locked. According to witness statements at the trial, the doors were locked by order of the supermarket owners so that no one would leave without paying for goods. Two mothers of young people who died in a Dec. 30, 2004 fire at Cromañón, a disco in Buenos Aires where 194 people were killed, were with the Paraguayan victims and relatives for the reading of the sentence and the march through Asunción which followed. The demonstrators carried a gigantic Paraguayan flag, 70 metres long, with photographs of those who perished in the tragedy. ***** + PARAGUAY: Justice for Supermarket Fire Victims - An Impossible Goal? (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38748) + PARAGUAY: Not a Single Conviction, a Year After Supermarket Tragedy - 2005 (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29739) + PARAGUAY: Tragic Fire Denudes Layers of Negligence - 2004 (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=24908) + LATAM: Negligence, Safety Violations, Impunity to Blame for Disasters - 2004 (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=24971) (END/IPS/LA HD IP CU CS CV/TRASP-VD-SW/DV/RP/08) = 02050029 ORP002 NNNN