Supreme Prosecutor Zoraida Ávalos asked the Judiciary to revoke the appearance measure with restrictions imposed against Betssy Chávez and, in its place, issue preventive detention for failing to comply with the rules of conduct imposed against her by the Supreme Court of Preparatory Investigation.
On September 3, the Constitutional Court declared the habeas corpus presented by Chávez Chino’s legal defense founded and ordered his immediate release. Likewise, he ordered the Judiciary to take the necessary measures to ensure the presence of the former minister in the judicial proceedings.
Complying with this, Supreme Judge Juan Carlos Checkley ordered the release and imposed on the accused the measure of appearance with restrictions under three rules of conduct: the obligation not to be absent from the town of Lima without authorization from the Court, to appear for biometric control every 7 days, the obligation to appear before the judicial or fiscal authority when required for any action in the process.
The former prime minister failed to comply with the last two requirements. Chávez did not attend the biometric control on three occasions: September 29, October 27 and November 3. In addition, he was absent in four sessions of the oral trial. Additionally, prosecutor Zoraida Ávalos does not rule out that the obligation not to be absent from Lima has been breached, since her whereabouts were not known.
“Consequently, in the opinion of this Supreme Office, preventive detention is considered appropriate in the present case, since the appearance with restrictions did not fully fulfill its purpose, it is useful and appropriate to achieve the constitutional goal of ensuring the completion of the criminal process, as well as guaranteeing the appearance of the accused and avoiding obstruction of the investigation of the truth,” Ávalos established.
