Draft bill 142.

Summary.

The draft bill aims to guarantee every citizen's presumption of innocence. To that end, it proposes to regulate the conduct of public servants and limit the information they provide through news media, documentaries, digital media, or any type of platform. The regulation concerns information about people who have been investigated and have not been convicted or found liable by a final judgment. Its scope covers the communication of that information by public servants in the exercise of their duties.

Article 2 adds Article 18A to Law 69 of 2007. The proposed provision penalizes a public servant who, while exercising their duties, provides, facilitates access to, or transmits information about a person who has been investigated and has not been convicted or found liable by a final judgment. The text covers three ways a public servant may participate in the circulation of information: providing it directly, enabling another person to access it, or transmitting it. The conduct is tied to the exercise of public duties and to the circumstances of the person to whom the information relates.

For that conduct, the added article establishes successive penalties. On the first occasion, the penalty is a fine equal to 50% of the public servant's monthly salary. On the second occasion, it provides for a one-month suspension from work without pay. On the third occasion, it provides for dismissal. The same article preserves the affected person's right to pursue criminal proceedings for defamation and insult. That option exists alongside the penalties prescribed for the public servant.

Article 3 assigns each agency responsibility for imposing the penalty. The agency may act on its own initiative or at the request of the aggrieved person. To make that request, the person must submit their police record or the judgment absolving them of criminal liability. The prescribed procedure thus connects the aggrieved person's request to documentation of their criminal status and assigns the relevant agency responsibility for imposing the penalty. Article 4 provides that the proposed law would take effect the day after its promulgation.

The draft bill concerns the public agencies responsible for penalizing their public servants and Law 69 of 2007, to which it would add Article 18A. It could be of interest to or affect public servants who communicate information in the exercise of their duties, people under investigation who were not convicted or found liable, and those who receive information through news media, documentaries, digital media, or other platforms.