Justice Minister Fernando Rabat told the Senate Human Rights Commission on Tuesday that there are about 28 pending pardon requests, eight filed since March 11, 2026. Senator Fabiola Campillai questioned the criteria for these pardons, announced by President José Antonio Kast for uniformed officers convicted in the 2019 social unrest. Subsecretary Pablo Mira also confirmed the continuity of the National Search Plan.
Justice Minister Fernando Rabat appeared before the Senate Human Rights, Nationality and Citizenship Commission on Tuesday, accompanied by Subsecretary Pablo Mira. The session was requested by Commission President Senator Fabiola Campillai (Ind.), who also invited representatives from victims' groups, including Alicia Lira, Gaby Rivera, and Nelson Aramburu.
Rabat outlined his ministry's legislative agenda for President José Antonio Kast's government. On pardons for uniformed officers from the 2019 social unrest, he stated: “Today there are approximately 28 pending pardon requests, about 20 from before March 11, 2026, and about eight afterward, covering various matters not all linked to the social outbreak.”
Campillai pressed the minister on evaluation criteria, highlighting victim harms like deaths, vision loss, or mobility issues, and warned of revictimization. She asked him to relay to Kast the need to hear victims from both the unrest and dictatorship: “That he receive families and victims of human rights violations from both the outbreak and the dictatorship.”
On the National Search Plan, Mira said he met the team on March 11 to affirm continuity and they have held 12 meetings to improve it: “It is our will that this plan not only continue but optimize resource management.” Rabat ruled out prioritizing the congressional commutation of sentences bill.
