The trial of case cocktails He walks seriously injured. The prosecutor of the Lava Jato Special Team, Jose Domingo Perez clings to judicial activism or “a miracle” so that the judges of the Third Collegiate Criminal Court save and continue the trial against the presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori Higuchi and 32 leaders, militants and collaborators of the Fuerza Popular political party, revealed sources from the Public Ministry.
At this time the judges have already made a decision that “was not easy and took several hours of discussion and analysis” of the sentence issued by the Constitutional Courton December 20, in favor of José Chlimper Ackerman and diverse jurisprudence and the background of the case, indicated to The Republic sources of the Judicial Power.
Judges Mercedes Caballero García, Nayko Coronado Salazar and Max Vengoa Valdeiglesias will announce their decision, in the virtual hearing, called for 9:00 in the morning, this Monday, January 13. If the miracle occurs, the trial will continue, although very weakened, and the next witnesses of the trial will be called to testify. Public Ministry.
Without judicial activism, it is most likely that the trial will break down and the case file will return to the prosecutor’s office for a new accusation to be formulated. The only possibility for the trial to continue is for the judges to order its application to the specific case, that is, only to Chlimper Ackerman and the facts of the “surprise accusation” indicated in the arguments of the TC ruling.
José Domingo Pérez hopes for a miracle in the cocktail case
On December 20, 2024, the TC resolved to annul the accusation presented by prosecutor José Domingo Pérez on March 11, 2021, in the extreme that includes José Chlimper Ackerman, as well as Resolution 28, dated April 18, 2022 ” from the judge Victor Raúl Zúñiga Urday that approved the accusation and ordered that I go to public trial, which began on July 1, 2024.
The resolution part is punctual and its application is simple. What the judges have evaluated is whether this sentence should also favor the other defendants who are in the same situation as Chlimper Ackerman. The constitutional magistrates annulled the accusation against this character by establishing that it contained facts, of the crimes of money laundering and criminal organization, that were not part of the investigation.
Between judicial activism and prudence
At the hearing on January 6, prosecutor José Domingo Pérez asked the judges, without engaging in judicial activism, but acting with prudence, to define that the sentence only covers a certain group of facts, and that the trial can continue even against Chlimper and the others for the acts that were part of the investigation.
The lawyers of Keiko Fujimori and 11 other defendants argued that the accusation is a whole, a single document that cannot be divided in such a way that it is impossible to perform “a surgery” that only “removes” Chlimper and leaves the others alive. actors, against whom the trial can continue.
Then, in the debate that the judges had, according to our sources, another issue arose. In the first hearings, the Collegiate Court recognized that the accusation and the prosecution order have a series of flaws that affect the rights of the accused, but that they could not do anything except take that situation into account in the development of the process and when pass sentence.
The background of the Oré Guardia case
The TC has already identified two problems and has decided to exclude those directly involved from the trial. In the first case, it annulled the accusation and the trial order against the lawyer Arsenio Oré Guardia for the crime of obstruction of justice. Now, he has spoken out for the situation of José Chlimper in the crimes of money laundering and organized crime.
In compliance with the first ruling of the TC, August 19, 2024the judges of the Collegiate Criminal Court separated Oré Guardia from the trial and expanded its scope to all those accused of obstruction of justice. Any reference to said crime was left out of the trial.
The hearing on January 13 will be virtual
Now, the sentence in favor of José Chlimper covers the main crimes in the case: money laundering and criminal organization, are the backbone of the accusation and the evidence and testimonies presented by the prosecution. The court cannot limit its actions, as in the Oré case, to a single person, it must include everything and everyone who is in the same situation.
The “surgery” proposed by the prosecution would mean that Chlimper continues to face trial for those facts that are not part of the surprise accusation, with which the TC’s sentence would only be partially fulfilled. To carry out the sentence, Chlimper and everything related to him must be excluded, allowing him to face a new accusation and a new trial.
Furthermore, as the judges have recognized, the accusation and the prosecution of the Cócteles case have other problems and other defendants have also resorted to the constitutional system, so it is likely that other TC rulings will be issued that affect the trial.
Wouldn’t it be better to avoid expenses for the judicial system and to preserve the rights of all defendantsbeyond his political condition, take advantage of the ruling of the TC to give the prosecution the opportunity to present a new, completely clean accusation, carry out a new control of the accusation and allow a smooth trial to be carried out?
