After a year since the oral trial began, the Special Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court will announce tomorrow whether it sentences the former president to effective prison. Pedro Castillo for the coup d’état that he carried out on December 7, 2022. The evidence against him is irrefutable and compelling.
The Prosecutor’s Office charges the former president with the crimes of rebellion, abuse of authority and serious disturbance, for which he requests that he be sentenced to 34 years in prison.
And not only are the judges required to impose this severe penalty against the Chotano professor, but also against the fugitive former Prime Minister Betssy Chávez, the former advisor Aníbal Torres and the former Minister of the Interior Willy Huerta, for having contributed to that task.
Chávez, as is known, requested asylum from the Mexican government to avoid justice and is currently in the embassy of that country in Lima.
José Jerí’s management, however, has not granted safe passage so the former minister cannot set foot on the street because she will be detained.
In a final hearing of the trial, prosecutor Edward Casaverde proposed to the court that if it does not accept this claim, sentence the Chotano professor for conspiracy, abuse of authority and serious disturbance to 19 years in prison.
The facts are already on the table
It is evident that, on December 7, 2022, Castillo Terrones used the signal of the State television channel to broadcast a message to the nation in which he communicated the illegal dissolution of the Congress of the Republic, the reorganization of the justice system and the installation of an “exception government.”
After that, the then head of the Interior, Willy Huerta, called the general commander of the National Police, Raúl Alfaro, by WhatsApp and told him that he was with the president at his side.
Alfaro said at the trial that Castillo told him: “General, close Congress, do not allow anyone to enter and remove those inside and intervene with the nation’s prosecutor,” who at that time was Patricia Benavides.
When the PNP general asked him about the basis for that decision, the president said that Huerta would give him “details” for the subsequent “uprising in arms.”
In addition, the former governor ordered the head of the PNP that he must protect the house of his parents, that of Betssy Chávez and that of Aníbal Torres. In this way, the latter were compromised in the plan to carry out the coup d’état.
The professor’s defense has focused all this time on pointing out that what was done by his patron remained just words because no member of the Armed Forces or the Police deployed or used weapons to seize power.
However, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, when it confirmed Castillo’s 18-month preventive detention, concluded that the crime of rebellion was committed.
The court chaired by Supreme Judge César San Martín ruled that the uprising took place when the former head of state ordered the Armed Forces and the National Police to abide by a curfew on December 7.
With all this evidence, the judges of the Special Criminal Chamber will issue a historic ruling that cannot leave those who wanted to break the democratic order unpunished.
Please note
-The Prosecutor’s Office requested that, if the judges adapt the case to the crime of conspiracy for rebellion, 11 years in prison be issued against former ministers Betssy Chávez, Aníbal Torres and Willy Huerta.
-Pedro Castillo wanted to seek refuge in the Mexican embassy after attempting the coup d’état, but he was detained by the Police. His wife and son did achieve political protection in that country.
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