📋 Tender Overview
For 18 years, this program has supported fiscal work from its 161 units nationwide; adopting legal, psychological, and social assistance measures in favor of victims as well as witnesses. In our country, each step of the criminal process--which involves victims and witnesses--has important support from the Assistance and Protection Program for Victims and Witnesses, which was implemented by the Attorney Generals Office, with the objective of support fiscal work by adopting legal, psychological and social assistance measures.
From 2023 to May 2024, its 166 units (protection and immediate assistance), nationwide, have served 98,229 users, including victims, witnesses, experts and effective collaborators whose physical integrity, freedom or property is at risk. , as a consequence of their participation in the investigations.
The measures provided by the program are legal assistance - which seeks to support the work of the prosecutor in charge of the case, informing victims and witnesses about the rights that assist them during the investigation and the judicial process; psychological assistance that aims to confront the emotional consequences of the crime; and social assistance that evaluates the family and socioeconomic situation of the victim and/or witness, while organizing and appropriately applying assistance measures.
The Prosecutor of the Nation (i), Juan Carlos Villena, highlighted the positive impact of this program on citizens, emphasizing the contribution it has provided in the attention of emblematic cases such as Los Cuellos Blancos del Puerto, Club de the Construction, Puente Tarata, among others; where they were a great support for the success of the investigations.
The Assistance and Protection Program for Victims and Witnesses is proof that by joining efforts it is possible to contribute to development in favor of society, contributing from the Public Ministry with the commitment to combat all illicit conduct that attempts to transgress the dignity of most vulnerable, he emphasized.
In turn, Supreme Deputy Prosecutor Jorge Antonio Bernal Cavero, coordinator of the Central Unit for Protection and Assistance to Victims and Witnesses, recalled the history of the program and recognized the work of the team that comprises it; as well as the support provided by cooperating entities. Every victory we have managed to assist has been a victory for justice and society.
It is important to note that to date, the program has 24 rooms and two shelters; It also has trained personnel highly committed to their work, including lawyers, psychologists, and social workers; who face cases of social relevance and extreme complexity.
Furthermore, as an additional measure for the protection of users, it implemented user characterization, a tool that allows the persons physical appearance to be covered, using different elements and a voice distorter, used to preserve anonymity.
