Spanish
The recent case of the Jet Set tragedy has brought to the table a legal and moral concern that deserves to be addressed seriously: can one of the victim's daughters reach an economic agreement and, even so, the others continue to demand justice?
The answer is yes. Not only is it acceptable, it is legally correct and, above all, a reflection of the autonomy of each heir in the face of pain and the claim for reparation.
At the moment that Zulinka, the daughter who accompanied Rubby Pérez as a chorus singer, accepts financial compensation of one million pesos, which in law is known as an out-of-court settlement (article 2044 CC), she is exercising a personal and voluntary right.
That agreement only has effects for her and the party with whom she agreed (article 2051 CC). That is to say, it does not bind or limit the other heirs, as is the case of Casey and Ana Beatriz Pérez, who in their lawsuit demand compensation of 435 million pesos.
Each heir is free to decide which path to take.
Some heirs may find in an economic agreement a way to close the chapter, and others need judicial sanction, the process, the sentence. And both paths are valid, as established by the Criminal Procedure Code (CPP), in its articles 50 and 118.
This is where it is crucial to distinguish between the two dimensions of the case: the civil action, which has to do with the claim for compensation (article 1382 CC), and the criminal action, which is the interest of society in punishing a conduct that violates public order.
In civil matters, each daughter is free to negotiate or continue the lawsuit. But in criminal matters, not even a private agreement can stop the course of justice if the Public Prosecutor's Office understands that there is a crime that must be prosecuted (Article 30 CPP, which establishes the monopoly of criminal action by the Public Prosecutor's Office).
In conclusion, the law cannot and should not standardize pain, nor limit justice to the silence of money. In a state of law, justice is a path that each person travels according to their conscience, their dignity, and the framework of the law.
