Mexico: Green party in State of Mexico (Edomex) proposes law to increase prison sentences for “deliberate transmission” of communicable diseases, including HIV

Green Party seeks to establish prison sentences for deliberate HIV transmission

Automatic translation via Deepl.com. For article in Spanish, please scroll down.

The Green Ecologist Party in the LX Legislature, seeks to establish up to 4 years jail sentences for anyone who deliberately infects another person with a transmissable disease such as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and at this time of Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic. 

In this sense, the legislator María Luisa Mendoza Mondragón proposes a reform to the article 252 of the Penal Code of the State of Mexico, which already contemplates the crime of Danger of Infection, and which currently only reaches a privative sentence of up to two years; the initiative contemplates an aggravating circumstance of up to one third, if the active subject is a medical professional. In addition, the initiative, which is currently in committee, proposes to raise this type of action for malice from 60 to 140 units of measurement and to update it.

“The action taken by a sick person who knowingly infects another person must be considered a crime and therefore be punished with a more severe penalty considering the atypical and extraordinary circumstance we face,” said the deputy,

This parliamentary faction also wants to modify the terms of the prosecution of the crime by the state authorities so that the investigation is no longer only by denunciation of the person or persons affected, but rather by office with the intention of punishing whoever commits these acts that attempt against the life of the Mexicans.

This crime is defined in the local law as follows: “Whoever, knowing that he suffers from a serious illness during the infectious period, puts himself in danger of infecting another person, by any means of transmission”.

Partido Verde busca establecer penas de cárcel a quien deliberadamente contagie el SIDA

En este sentido, la legisladora María Luisa Mendoza Mondragón propone una reforma al artículo 252 del Código Penal del Estado de México, en el que ya se contempla el delito de Peligro de Contagio, y que actualmente solo alcanza una pena privativa de hasta dos años; la iniciativa contempla una agravante de hasta un tercio, si el sujeto activo es personal médico. Además, la iniciativa que se encuentra en comisiones, propone elevar de 60 a 140 unidades de medida y actualización este tipo de acciones por dolo.  

“La acción desplegada por un sujeto enfermo que contagie a otro con conocimiento de causa tiene que ser considerado como delito y por ende ser castigado con una pena más grave por la circunstancia atípica y extraordinaria que enfrentamos”, dijo la diputada,  

Esta fracción parlamentaria también quiere modificar los términos de la persecución del delito por parte de las autoridades estatales para que la investigación ya no sea solo por denuncia de la o las personas afectadas, sino que más bien sea por oficio con la intención de castigar a quien cometa estos actos que atentan contra la vida de los mexiquenses.  

Este delito en la norma local se define así: “A quien sabiendo que padece una enfermedad grave en período infectante, ponga en peligro de contagio a otro, por cualquier medio de transmisión”.