Chamber orders the release of the former head of the DINI, Hugo Chávez and Samir Abudayeh

The Superior Court of Justice of Lima today ordered the immediate release of the former head of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINI), José Fernández Latorre; businessman Samir Abudayeh; the former general manager of Petroperú, Hugo Chávez; and former intelligence adviser Henry Shimabukuro; all investigated by the special team of the Prosecutor’s Office.

Three of them had been preliminarily detained on Friday, November 25. Last Monday, Chávez turned himself in to the Public Ministry after arriving in Peru from Bolivia.

According to the judicial resolution of the First Criminal Court of Appeals, to which Peru21the court questioned the ruling in the first instance, noting that “no further analysis was carried out” to justify that the detention was the only way to ensure the presence of those investigated.

In this line, the judges indicated that “it is not necessary to detain a person” to collect their statements, as required by the Prosecutor’s Office.

“People cannot be detained unless they have given reason for an obstacle that has not been specified in the present case for reading and viewing the cell phone and computer equipment related to those investigated. People can be summoned to the Public Ministry ”, reads the document.

Regarding the investigation against Hugo Chávez, the chamber observed that it has been going on for “several months” and that the prosecutors have not provided “any objective data of current danger or in the coming days that an attack could occur that endangers obtaining new documentation ”.

In general, the magistrates agreed that the Prosecutor’s Office has not demonstrated with evidence that the defendants obstruct the investigations or intend to flee the country.