The Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the former president Peruvian Pedro Castillo faces charges of rebellion after announcing that he was dissolving Congress, decreeing an emergency government and calling new legislative elections.
Former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo participated virtually this Thursday, from the prison where he has been held since yesterday, in a hearing to evaluate the prosecutor’s request for preliminary detention against him, while he is being investigated for rebellion for having ordered the dissolution of Congress.
Accompanied by his lawyer Víctor Pérez and his former Prime Minister Aníbal Torres, who is also defending him, Castillo listened together with Judge Juan Carlos Checkley to the arguments of the Public Ministry, which requested a seven-day preliminary detention against him.
At the end of the hearing, whose resolution will be issued “within the legal term”, Checkley gave the floor to the former president, but he limited himself to stating “that is all& #8221;, alluding to what was said by their lawyers.
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In his speech, Torres assured that during Castillo’s detention no “coercive or coercive means were ever used, but he insisted that in this process “the principle of legality is being flagrantly violated” considering that at no time were the crimes imputed to the former president accredited.
Along the same lines, Pérez maintained that Castillo’s announcement about the closure of Parliament did not imply an uprising in arms that requires, according to what he said, the crime of rebellion and denied that there is a flight risk, for which he asked the judge to declare unfounded the requirement of the Public Ministry.
“The statements of my patron in his message do not constitute the crime of rebellion (…) How can a person want to flee when they have not committed the alleged crimes that are being charged”, Pérez said.
At the other extreme, Supreme Deputy Prosecutor Marco Huamán assured that “the high probability of escape is evident” of the former president, after mentioning Castillo’s alleged intention to go to the Mexican Embassy to leave his country.
Huamán indicated that the arrest of the former head of state is “necessary” to ensure the acts of investigation and accused Castillo of having tried to change the rule of law model established in the Constitution, illegally and fraudulently.
Castillo participated in this hearing after spending his first night in the Barbadillo prison, in the Lima district of Ate, where former president Alberto Fuijimori is also being held, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence, while he is prosecuted for rebellion and conspiracy.
The Public Ministry announced yesterday the start of these preliminary investigations while Castillo remained detained in the Lima Prefecture for allegedly “breaking the constitutional order”, after to dictate that morning the temporary closure of Parliament and the establishment of a national emergency government.
This order was widely interpreted as an attempted coup, even by members of his cabinet.
The measure did not obtain the endorsement of the majority of the now ex-members of his government, nor of the Armed Forces, the National Police, the Constitutional Court and the Judiciary.
Hours later, Congress debated a third impeachment request against him, which was finally approved by 101 of the 130 legislators that make up the Peruvian chamber.