This week, on Monday, July 22 and Wednesday, July 24, the opening statements of the defense attorneys are due to conclude in the Trial of Keiko Fujimori, Fuerza Popular and 39 other defendants for criminal organization, money laundering and false statements in the Cocktails case.
Both hearings are scheduled virtually, between 9:00 and 12:00 in the morning.
On Monday, the Third Collegiate Criminal Court, made up of judges Juana Mercedes Caballero Garcia, Nayko Coronado Salazar and Max Vengoa Valdiglesiaswill receive reports from specialists at the Institute of Legal Medicine on the health of Luis Mejía Lecca, the former treasurer and legal representative of Fuerza 2011.
In August, the judges will begin to hear witnesses
Mejia Lecca is bedridden due to an acute stroke that has paralyzed half of his body. Forensic doctors must determine whether he is physically and mentally fit to face public trial..
If doctors certify the seriousness of his health condition, in accordance with the request made by his lawyer Yeni Vilcatoma, Mejía will be excluded from the trial until he is fit to face it.
The prosecutor of the Lava Jato Special Team, José Domingo Pérez, has not yet orally presented the charges and the sentence he is requesting for the former treasurer of Fuerza 2011.
Forensic doctors must also report on the health status of Efrain Goldenberg Schreiberbusinessman and former prime minister of the Alberto Fujimori government.
Goldenber, 98, is participating in the trial, but virtually. His lawyer Julio César Espinoza has asked that he be excluded from participating in person. Because of his age, he has difficulty speaking and can barely hear,
Defense attorneys’ arguments
Mark Vito Villanela is accused of money laundering
On Monday, Mark Vito Villanela’s lawyer must make his defense statementThe legal expert was supposed to appear in person at the last hearing, but was absent. The lawyer justified his absence due to a work-related matter.
It also corresponds to the defense arguments of the majority of alleged false contributors to the Fuerza 2011 and Fuerza Popular campaigns in the 2011 and 2016 elections.
The prosecution accuses them of money laundering Considering that the contributions did not come from their personal income, but rather it was money that Fuerza Popular had previously given them.
Finally, There are the defense arguments of the first Fuerza Popular lawyers: Edwar García Navarro, Luis Lazo Mendoza, Lorena Gamero Calero and Danae Calderon Castro and Giulliana Loza.
Lawyer Percy Cavero denied that threats were made to witnesses
Threats, inducement or advice
Some of the accused lawyers will defend themselves and others will be represented by other colleagues. The prosecution accuses them of having threatened and pressured the false contributions to give false testimony.
The accused’s lawyers deny any threat and say that this charge was not even part of the investigation.since no contributor mentions threats. What was investigated and what the prosecution accused, they say, was an inducement to give false testimony, which they also deny.
Edward Garcia and his colleagues claim that They only gave legal advice to the Fuerza Popular contributors cited by the prosecution.
Do you accept the prosecution’s accusation against you?
Keiko Fujimori denies the accusation of prosecutor José Domingo Pérez
At the conclusion of the opening statements by the lawyers, It is up to the president of the court and director of debates, Caballero García, to ask each of the accused whether they accept or reject the accusation of prosecutor José Domingo Pérez.
If any defendant accepts, the accusation against him is proven and he is sentenced at the next hearing and is exempt from the trial. This verdict is individual and is not binding nor does it affect the evidence of others..
The sentence will be lower than what the prosecution is requesting.as a reward for the savings in resources that judging it entails.
However, given the high sentences requested by the prosecution, it is unlikely that any of the defendants will accept the charges, in addition to the complications in the banking system that a conviction for money laundering entails. Everyone would rather face the long trial, but the judges must ask the question.
For August, the probationary stage
José Domingo Pérez will begin to question witnesses
Following the two hearings this week, there will be a recess for the Fiestas Patrias holidays. The public trial will resume on Wednesday, August 7, and will continue on Monday, August 12 and Tuesday, August 13. and consecutively twice a week.
Witnesses will begin to be summoned in August. The Collegiate Court has warned that there are too many, which will lengthen the trial for many years.
There is likely to be a debate about the need to hear from the more than two thousand witnesses scheduled, the 1,500 of the prosecution plus those presented by the defense of each accused.
The first witnesses: the Brazilians
The first witnesses should be Brazilian citizens and former executives of the construction company Odebrecht: Marcelo Bahia OdebrechtJorge Simoes Barata, Luiz Antonio MameriFernando Migliaccio Da Silva, Hilberto Marcarenhas Alves Da Silva Filho and Luis Eduardo Da Rocha Soares.
In addition, Antonio José Donnel Parra del Riego, Maria Lucia Guimaraes Taveares, Eleuberto Antonio Martorelli, Marcos Queiroz Grillo, Ubiraci Chaves Santos and Angela Palmeira Ferreira.
The Brazilian judiciary has suspended international judicial cooperation with Peru over the Odebrecht case. Jorge Barata has announced that he will not testify in the trials in Peru, as his effective collaboration has been revoked.
Prosecutor José Domingo Pérez may ask for a different order of witnesses, to give time to legally define the situation in Brazil.
Other trials
The Third Collegiate Criminal Court has explained that for now cannot schedule more than two hearings per week for the trial of the Cocktails case.
The same judges are in charge of the trial of former president Ollanta Humala and Nadine Heredia for alleged contributions from Odebrecht and Venezuela to the Peruvian Nationalist Party.
The Humala case trial takes place three times a weekThe judges are seeking to conclude this process and issue a ruling before the end of 2024.
A ruling that will set a precedent for all proceedings on political parties and organized crime and on irregular contributions to electoral campaigns and money laundering.
