The congressman of Advance Country Diego Bazán —who elaborated and sustained before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations (SAC) the final report on Pedro Castillo— pointed out that “convincing elements have been found” against the vacated former president of the Republic that would syndicate him as the alleged “leader of a criminal organization.”
“What we have found are many elements of conviction that make us believe that there is a responsibility, and that will have to be determined in due course by the Judiciary, but three crimes are configured: criminal organization, collusion and influence peddling”, he said in dialogue with RPP News.
In this sense, the parliamentarian considered that, if the Power of attorney determines the responsibility of Terrones Castle for the alleged crime of criminal organization, he could face a sentence of not less than 25 years.
“If responsibility is determined and given the elements of conviction that exist after having analyzed the entire case, I consider in a particular way that (Pedro Castillo) would receive no less than 25 years in prison for having been immersed in the crime of criminal organization, which is a fairly serious crime,” he said.
at another time, Diego Bazan denied that the right to defense and due process had been violated in the case of Pedro Castillo. He added that the former president was notified on December 6, one day before he attempted to carry out his coup.
“I remembered that former President Castillo was notified on December 6 at 11 am in the Palace when he was still president. Messrs. Geiner Alvarado and Juan Silva were notified at their home, as it appears in Reniec. In the case of former President Castillo, despite the fact that he had a lawyer assigned to the SAC at that time, they did not have the will to make use of their right to defense”, he pointed out.
Along these lines, he pointed out that the regulations of Congress “indicate that, given the refusal to use the defense of the accused, the SAC has the right to advance until the final report”.
He also recalled that the case goes to the Permanent Commission and that the parties involved will also have to be notified so that they can use the defense again. He maintained that he has requested that “Mr. Castillo be notified to the Barbadillo and thus do not have excuses and indicate that you cannot defend yourself”.
SAC approved final report against Pedro Castillo
On December 29, the SAC approved, with 16 votes in favor, the final report accusing Pedro Castillo Terrones for the alleged crimes of criminal organization, influence peddling and collusion. This after the constitutional complaint made by the prosecutor of the Nation, Patricia Benavides.
After that, the report presented by the congressman Diego Bazan will be elevated to Permanent Commission to be ratified. Then it will go through Full for the issue to be discussed. If approved, Patricia Benavides may continue with the process against Castillo in court.
The complaint also includes former ministers John Silva (Transportation and Communications) and Geiner Alvarado (Housing, Construction and Sanitation).