Joint statement on Paraguay

For the validity of the rule of law: freedom for prisoners with completed sentences

The undersigned Communist and Workers Parties denounce the Paraguayan government to the international community for the illegal detention of Carmen Villalba, who is still being held in the Asunción Women's Prison, in Paraguay, despite the effective fulfillment of her sentence.


In this regard, we note that Carmen Villalba was sentenced by a final judicial sentence to 15 years in prison plus 3 years for security measures, having served said sentence in July of this year and obtained a resolution of freedom for embezzlement in this case. In the same way, a firm sentence to 17 years in prison weighs on her in a case that, being extinct, should never have reached a sentence. In this case, Carmen Villalba has also exceeded 17 years of sentence, on July 4 of this year. Since then and to date, her legal defense has requested her release by compurgation, a procedure that has been subject to an unjustifiable and illegal delay, considering the constitutional guarantees at stake, such as freedom of movement, the principle of legality, among others.

In this regard, we first recall that Carmen Villalba was apprehended on July 2, 2004, remaining in preventive detention by order issued by the prosecutor Carmen Meza on February 28, 2005, within the framework of case 1129. Notwithstanding this , the criminal execution judge N ° 3 of Luque, instead of ordering the immediate release by compurgation of the sentence in its entirety, issued a resolution in which the nature of the detention of origin is unknown. All of this, based on mere formalities and in open contradiction with the provisions of the legislation that refers to the final calculation of penalties, taking into account the day of restriction of freedom (art. 494 Code of Criminal Procedure).

We consider that Carmen Villalba’sstate of detention constitutes an arbitrary situation and contrary to the rule of law, since she has fully served her sentence, duly established with the same law that is being violated today by not allowing her freedom. In addition, the context in which the restriction of Carmen Villalba's freedom is arbitrarily delayed significantly aggravates the situation.Her daughter Carmen Elizabeth "Lichita" is disappeared since last November, her sister Laura was arrested and her nieces María Carmen and Lilian Mariana were murdered in September 2020, mournful events that add to the murder of her son Néstor and the refuge in Argentina of several of his relatives due to harassment by the Paraguayan security forces.

For all the above, the national and international community demands the immediate release of Carmen Villalba, considering the fulfillment of her sentence. This situation, if it persists, exposes the Paraguayan State to responsibilities for violation of constitutional guarantees and human rights treaties.



SolidNet Parties:

Communist Party of Albania
Communist Party of Argentina
Party of Labour of Austria
Communist Party of Bangladesh
Communist Party of Belgium
Communist Party of Bolivia
Brazilian Communist Party
Communist Party of Brazil
New Communist Party of Britain
Communist Party of Chile
Colombian Communist Party
Croatian Socialist Workers Party
AKEL, Cyprus
Communist Party of Denmark
Communist Party of Ecuador
Unified Communist Party of Georgia
German Communist Party
Communist Party of Greece
Communist Party of Ireland
Workers Party of Ireland
Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan
Communist Party of Mexico
Popular Socialist Party - National Political Association , Mexico
Communist Party of Pakistan
Paraguayan Communist Party
Philippines Communist Party (PKP 1930)
Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain
Communist Party of Swaziland
Communist Party of Uruguay
Communist Party USA
Communist Party of Venezuela


Other Parties

Communist Party (Switzerland)
Union of the Galician People