This Friday, October 24, the Judiciary handed down 15 years of effective prison against Congressman Guillermo Bermejo, for the crime of affiliation to the terrorist organization, after determining that he participated in a Sendero Luminoso cell in the BRAEM between 2008 and 2009.
The sentence indicates that Bermejo, under the alias ‘Comrade Che’, attended indoctrination and armed training camps with members of this Shining Path leadership, led by brothers Víctor and Jorge Quispe Palomino.
In addition, civil reparation was ordered in favor of the State of 100 thousand soles and disqualification from holding public office for the duration of the sentence.
What will happen to his seat in Congress?
The ruling leaves a vacuum in Parliament, since Bermejo will lose his seat and cannot be replaced by any accessory, as established in article 15-A of the Congress Regulations.
According to article 25 of the aforementioned regulation, parliamentarians can be replaced by their assistants in cases of death, permanent illness, dismissal, disqualification or conviction for an intentional crime with a final sentence.
However, the rule described above has a specific exception in Article 15-A, incorporated in 2015, which excludes replacement by accessory when the congressman has been convicted of terrorism, illicit drug trafficking, human trafficking or money laundering linked to said crimes.
In these cases, the seat remains vacant for the remainder of the legislative period and cannot be occupied by any other candidate.
Who could reach Congress instead of Bermejo?
According to the ONPE, Zaira Arias should have been the one who, as accessory, would have taken Bermejo’s place in the Legislature, after obtaining 4,416 votes in the 2021 elections.
Arias is a former congressional candidate and political activist. In 2023, she was involved in an incident in the so-called March for Peace in the Center of Lima, when she was arrested by police officers for throwing red paint at protesters and law enforcement officers.
The incident was captured by several videos broadcast on social networks, in which her resistance to being intervened and the attempts of the officers to remove her from the place can be seen.
However, Arias would not reach Congress due to the existence of Article 15-A.
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