The Judiciary has issued a restriction on leaving the country for eleven months 24 members of the National Police of Peru (PNP)who are being investigated for the death of two ronderos -Sonia Aguilar Quispe (35) and Salomón Valenzuela Chua (30)-during the protests against the government of Dina Boluarte occurred on January 18, 2023. This measure was taken by the fourth preparatory investigation court of the Superior Court of Justice of Lima.
Among the officers involved in the death of the two citizens, there are high-ranking officers such as David Pablo Villanueva Yana, PNP general and head of the X Macro Police Region of Puno; Julio Santos Mauricio ContrerasPNP colonel, head of the Puno Police Region; Alberto Miguel Rojas MéndezPNP colonel, head of the Juliaca Police Division; and Fredy Arellano MendozaPNP commander, commissioner of Macusani.
The other 20 investigated are officers and non-commissioned officers who were involved before, during and after the events, shooting from inside the Macusani police station. All the agents who had authorization to shoot have been identified, and it was determined that the shots were fired with AKM rifles, according to evidence collected in several videos recorded by the police themselves.
Victims’ lawyer speaks out
In statements to La República, César Quispe Calsin, lawyer for the victims, explained that, although none of those investigated tried to escape, the restriction is a preventive measure to facilitate the investigation and reach the truth.
“It has been detected within the investigation that several of them (the police involved) leave the country, which means that at any time they could flee from justice, which is why we consider the measure of prevention of departure important and strategic to see the behavior of those investigated,” said Quispe.
Likewise, he explained that to date there is a large amount of evidence such as videos, photographs, expert reports and statements, which helped identify the police officers who shot Sonia Aguilar and Salomón Valenzuela.
