On 22 April 2026, former members of the National Human Rights Program—Magdalena Garcés, Tamara Lagos, and Paulina Zamorano—who were recently dismissed following the arrival of President José Antonio Kast, alerted the public to the implementation of a “passive pardon” by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Fernando Rabat, in favor of criminals against humanity from the dictatorship.
In a statement, they accused Rabat of instructing, through the Head of the Human Rights Program, Constanza Garrido, “that their attorneys not intervene in hearings where sentence reductions or alternative sentences are discussed.”
This form of “passive pardon” allows those convicted of crimes against humanity to argue their status as elderly individuals or their suffering from serious illnesses to obtain alternative sentences, without opposition from state attorneys. This failure to provide a defense thus becomes the new avenue for avoiding actual prison time.
Rabat denied having issued instructions to that effect, stating that “there has been no instruction from this minister (…) the content of the court rulings must be addressed.” However, there are already three cases revealing the application of the new instruction.