The National Prosecutor, Patricia Benavides, reported this morning, during the inauguration ceremony of the new Fiscal Year 2023, the measures that the Public Ministry would take to investigate the deaths of citizens who came out to protest in the last days of December.
“Since the first moment of the start of the protests in December 2022, it was ordered that the prosecutors place special emphasis on the investigations and determination of the responsibilities of the unfortunate events that occurred, no life is worth less than another and no death should go unpunished” Benavides began by saying.
For this reason, and for “a correct, orderly and speedy investigation with a focus on human rights,” he assured that the Subsystem of Terrorism, Human Rights and Interculturality will be divided into two. “We will have two specialized subsystems, one on the crime of terrorism and the other on human rights and interculturality,” she said.
For this, he informed that this proposal should go through the approval of the board of supreme prosecutors and that once the approval was given, they would begin to work in this way from that date.
In addition, they will implement specialized prosecutors in the districts of Madre de Dios, Ucayali and La Libertad.
Remembering the Castillo era
During her speech, prosecutor Benavides also made reference to what happened during the government of Pedro Castillo.
“There are moments in the history of a town that a year can condense a decade or even longer. 2022 for Peruvians has been one of those years. We cannot remain blind to the events that have populated the course of the year that he left us and perhaps the most valuable lesson that we can draw from it, despite its fragility, is that our institutions knew how to defend and maintain democracy and the State of right that sustains them,” he said.
In addition, Benavides highlighted what was done by his investigation team regarding the actions of the former president, his officials and their alleged links to acts of corruption.
“This commitment (against corruption) has become effective with the continuation of the institutional decision to investigate a sitting president for acts of corruption and the presentation of the constitutional complaint against senior officials in the exercise of power,” he said.
Boluarte thanks you
President Dina Boluarte was also present during the meeting at the Public Ministry and, at the end of the meeting, gave a brief speech in which she thanked the National Prosecutor for her work against corruption.
“I come to ratify my full support for the work of the Public Ministry (…). This institution gave the country clear signs of its commitment to the frontal fight against corruption, in the prosecution of crime and in the search for the truth so that justice is done,” said the president.
He also recalled the struggle of Benavides during the government of ex-President Castillo. “He did not hesitate for a moment to go out to defend the constitutional order and democracy,” he said.
