The Supervisory Commission of the Congress of the republic, chaired by Congressman Fujimori Héctor Ventura, recently approved a report accusing the president of leading a criminal organization, for the Saratea case.
This report must go through the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations and then it would go to the Plenary, where it would reach enough votes for the president’s disqualification. However, Benji Espinoza, Pedro Castillo’s lawyer, believes that the accusation will not prosper. “The president cannot be impeached during his term,” he says.
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The constitutional lawyer Luciano López argues along the same lines: “There is a problem of a constitutional procedural nature because the Constitution, whether we like it or not, says that the president, during his mandate, cannot be impeached except for four very extraordinary cases. And none of these assumptions has to do with the commission of crimes of corruption.
“The approval of the report is a violation of the Constitution and could not pass to the Standing Commission such a case. Also, the commission has a contradiction because on the one hand it says that the responsibility of the president would be proven, but at the same time it says that there are reasonable indications and there cannot be certainties and doubts at the same time. For this reason, we are absolutely confident that this report will be archived at the right time,” Espinoza alleges.
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Even though the opposition manages to add enough votes to accuse the president, according to López, the Constitution itself will prevent the accusation from taking place. “Disqualification is the consequence of processing the complaint. What I am saying is that the prosecution cannot even continue because article 117 of the Constitution prevents it. We could agree with that and fifty accusations that the Oversight Commission has proposed, but what I believe is that, procedurally, no accusation can advance, ”suggests the constitutionalist.
However, article 99 says otherwise: “It is up to the Permanent Commission to accuse before Congress the President of the Republic (among others), for any crime committed in the exercise of their functions and up to five years after these have ceased. And the Permanent Commission will be the final destination of the Ventura report.
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Although this will have to go through a series of procedures before the formal accusation against the president proceeds, the votes for its approval are there. Despite Vladimir Cerrón, leader of Peru Libre, has declared that his caucus will not vote in favor of this accusation, the recent decisions of the congressmen of the pencil party say the opposite.
Wait. The Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations will evaluate the accusation against Castillo. Photo: Congress
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Luciano López, constitutional lawyer
“If the accusation is approved in plenary, there will be a problem of a constitutional procedural nature, because the Constitution says that the president cannot be impeached during his term.”
Benji Espinoza, lawyer for the president
“We are absolutely confident that this report will be filed in due time. And it must be archived because the Constitution does not allow the president to be impeached, suspended or disabled.
