The coordinator of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime, Jorge Chávez Cotrina, announced that 100 investigations nationwide are at risk, after Congress approved modifications to the Organized Crime Law. In this way, he asked President Dina Boluarte to observe the rule because of the “damage” that citizens would do if the Legislative initiative is enacted.
In an interview for La República, the representative of Feccor said that the aforementioned investigations will go to the common criminal prosecutor’s offices, given that the crimes that are established in the tax files would no longer constitute organized crime.
“Together with our prosecutors, we have determined that 100 cases nationwide will have to be referred to the common criminal prosecutor’s offices, since they would no longer be linked to a criminal organization. That is, we would not have the competence to continue with the investigation and it will be necessary to refer them to a criminal prosecutor’s office that, unfortunately, does not have the logistical resources or the training to face a crime of this magnitude,” said Jorge Chávez Cotrina.
Along these lines, he indicated that cases of illegal mining in Trujillo, massive scams in Lima and deforestation in the Amazon will benefit from this rule.
“The cases will now depend on the head of the police region, who will be dedicated to these investigations. For these cases we apply special techniques such as undercover agents, wiretapping, but we will no longer be able to see them because they will become common crimes,” Cotrina told La República.
In that criticism, the prosecutor also mentioned that Congress is tying the Prosecutor’s Office hand and foot to fight against organized crime, because investigations that have ongoing processes can request a reduction in the sentence if this law is applied.
“They tie us hand and foot to all the specialized prosecutor’s offices and even the Police, but what they don’t realize is that the main people affected are the citizens who will be at the mercy of crime,” he said.
Chávez Cotrina asks that President Dian Boluarte observe the norm
Chávez Cotrina asked that President Dina Boluarte observe the law promoted by Congress, since this would affect her Government because if the measure is applied, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights would have to appoint at least 50 public defenders for each raid carried out by the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office.
“Dina Boluarte must observe the rule and not let Congress promulgate the law (…)The raids, by their nature, are surprising by their nature. The rule says that for the search I need the presence of the lawyer of the investigated. What happens if the lawyer cannot? We must suspend the proceedings and this would disrupt the investigation (…) Therefore, I ask the president to observe the normal that would also affect her Government due to the logistics that the Ministry of Justice will arrange with the presence of around 50 lawyers for raid,” he stated.
