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The defense team for jailed Indigenous Argentine activist Milagro Sala has called for her immediate release and transfer as part of her house arrest, after supporters refurbished the home where she is slated to serve the rest of her sentence.
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Lawyers representing the Parlasur lawmaker said the location given to Sala for her house arrest previously had no windows, electricity or furniture. They added that despite the court overseeing her case breaching an agreement of house arrest by not allowing her to be in her own home, they took up the task of fixing the facility.
Judges Pablo Pullen Llermanos and Gaston Mercau are reviewing the request to urgently transfer the Indigenous leader and comply with a request by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, IACHR, calling on the government to fulfill its responsibilities.
“In view of the fact that the Argentine Republic has had an international responsibility since Friday, August 11, 2017, due to the IACHR's measure 25/16 and, more importantly, since Milagro Sala’s life and physical integrity are in danger, it is necessary that the transfer be carried out,” the lawyers said in a statement.
Last week, IACHR head Francisco Eguiguren said the decision to detain Sala inside of a vandalized house that lacks basic amenities is “nothing more than a change from one prison to another prison.”
Eguiguren said that “house arrest must be carried out in the home where she lives, surrounded by her people.”
Sala was arrested on Jan. 16, 2016 after a month-long sit-in to protest the neoliberal policies of Jujuy Governor Gerardo Morales, an ally of right-wing President Mauricio Macri.
Political authorities of Jujuy accused Sala of embezzlement and alleged that she used “authoritarian and violent methods” to run community initiatives and protests. Last year, the United Nations demanded that the government release Sala, describing her incarceration as "arbitrary."
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