The judges of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court will evaluate whether it is possible to review the constitutionality and legality of the Congressional agreement to lift the right to a trial of former President Pedro Castillo in an appeal hearing against preventive detention.
The legality of the resolution of the Congress of the Republic, which in the early hours of December 12 lifted the right to a trial of the aforementioned former president, was part of the allegations of his lawyer Wilfredo Robles to request that the preventive detention be revoked for a restricted appearance.
For its part, the Attorney General’s Office pointed out that the constitutionality or legality of that resolution cannot be evaluated in an appeal of preventive detention, since it was not part of the debates of the hearing in which the supreme judge of preparatory investigation Juan Carlos Checkley imposed the preventive prison.
Deputy Supreme Prosecutor Sylvia Sack Ramos indicated that the legal procedure was fulfilled with the complaint that the National Prosecutor presented to the Congress of the Republic for rebellion.
Castillo’s lawyer, Wilfredo Robles, argued that although the legality and constitutionality of the resolution of Congress was not part of the debate in court, that decision is mentioned by Judge Checkley in his resolution, so it is valid to reassess that point. .
Castillo’s defense insisted that the former president did not take up arms, as indicated by the Penal Code when sustaining the crime of rebellion or attempted rebellion and that the person investigated has domiciliary, family and work roots and that he will submit to the investigations.
Castle’s word
Before concluding the hearing, former President Pedro Castillo addressed the judges from the Barbadillo prison. He pointed out that it is the current government that has risen up in arms, causing more than 20 deaths, that his family left the country because they were in danger and that his imprisonment is part of political revenge and hatred.
“I have never committed the crime of rebellion, because I have never taken up arms nor have I told others to do so. I must say that the one who did rise up in arms is this tyrannical government that has ended the lives of my 28 Peruvian brothers in Andahuaylas, Ayacucho and other places ”, he indicated.
“I,” he continued, “have not committed the crime of conspiracy. Those who have done so are those who, from Congress and other institutions, have been plotting the fall of my government, through successive requests for presidential vacancy and other tricks.
“You must be aware, Supreme Judges, that, to date, I am incommunicado. I have not had access to a phone number to call my family. (…) Everything that has been done against me is part of a political revenge, orchestrated for having collided with the interests of economic and media power groups, ”he added.
The court would make its decision known shortly.
Hearing of Lilia Paredes, on January 6, 2023
Judge Raúl Justiniano Romero scheduled for January 6, 2023 the new hearing to evaluate the request to prevent ex-First Lady Lilia Paredes, her brothers Walter and David Paredes and businessman Hugo Espino from leaving the country.
The magistrate had already evaluated this request from the Prosecutor’s Office and ordered an impediment to leave the country for Paredes and the other investigated, but on December 15 the Appeals Chamber revoked the measure and ordered a new public hearing.
Lilia Paredes obtained political asylum in Mexico, and on December 21, she and her two minor children left Peru with a safe-conduct, currently residing in that country.
