Aracaley Chunga Escalante, 21, spent 4 days in a cell just for defending a person who was being beaten. For the same reason, you will have to sign a document at the Prosecutor’s Office within the next six months and if you want to leave Lima, you will have to request judicial permission.
His name may sound foreign but his act of bravery does not. On social networks, a video of the October 15 march went viral, in which a young woman scolds a police officer for having kicked a person who was on the ground in the head. In response, the officer insults her and threatens to shoot her.
“Come out, your mother’s pussy, I’m going to shoot you,” the officer’s voice resonated against Aracely. She just insisted on her claim. He didn’t even touch the troops. Despite this, both she and the attacked person, 44-year-old Nilton Calderón, were arrested and charged with three alleged crimes. The Prosecutor’s Office requested six months of preventive detention against him.
They weren’t the only ones. The institution also requested preventive detention against Carlos Jair Jaramillo and Wilfredo Huertas Vidal, both 28 years old.
Although the four were arrested during the October 15 demonstration against José Jerí’s government, the case of Aracely Chunga and Nilton Calderón was treated as a joint investigation, since both were accused of the same thing.
After their arrest, Aracely and Nilton were transferred to a police station and then to the Rímac Social Affairs Division where they remained for four days until the morning of October 19, the date on which they were released with an appearance with restrictions, since the Judiciary declared the request for preventive detention unfounded.
The restrictive measure was requested by provincial prosecutor Oscar Zevallos Palomino of the Fourth Office of the Third Corporate Criminal Prosecutor’s Office of Cercado de Lima. In a 199-page file, he supported the alleged facts and identified Aracely and Nilton as perpetrators of the alleged crimes of minor injuries, riots and aggravated damages.
They are accused of attacking three motorcycle police officers from the Phoenix Squadron and damaging (hitting and burning) their respective motorcycles. These are the same police officers who fired shots into the air in front of a group of people. Yes, this fact also went viral in a video on social networks.
However, neither of the two accused were at the scene of that incident and there is no evidence that they attacked any PNP agent. On the contrary, the videos are public in which the police can be seen beating Nilton and threatening Aracely.
Aracely and Nilton case: Accusation against them lacked evidence
Aracely Chunga’s defense was led by Dr. Dacia Escalante accompanied by lawyers Pablo Arias and Carlos Rodríguez.
Rodríguez, a lawyer specialized in human rights, told La República that none of the three accusations against Chunga had solidity or evidence.
“The crime of minor injuries occurs when a person must complete a medical break of 10 days or more. In this case, there were three police officers who were aggrieved and only the certificate of one of them was presented. In that document it is clearly read that they recommended two days of medical care and six days of medical-legal disability. They did not reach 10 days to be considered a crime, however, the accusation was formulated in a different way,” said the specialist lawyer. in human rights.
Therefore, the defense considers the accusation of this alleged crime “absurd” and “irregular.”
The same thing happened with the charge of aggravated damages. “The PNP carried out a technical inspection at the scene of the incident (incident with the PNP Fénix) and the report determined that there was no evidence of damage to either public or private property. In addition, no expert opinion was presented on the alleged damage to the motorcycles,” he stated.
Additionally, when the three aggrieved PNP were asked if they recognized the two investigated as the authors of the damage to their motorcycle, they indicated before the judge that they could not affirm that.
Regarding the alleged crime of riots, in the same way, the Prosecutor’s Office could not prove that Aracely and Nilton had participated in events of that nature.
“Aracely has appeared confident and calm during the hearing because she has not done anything. The other party, on the other hand, has not shown the videos showing how the PNP Fénix shoots and how the troops kick Nilton on the ground,” Rodríguez said.
Nilton Calderón’s intervention report was irregular, warns his lawyer
Due to this, the lawyer considers that the case will be archived. Likewise, Nilton Calderón’s defense, Sandra Paico, maintains that the necessary foundations do not exist in the tax accusation.
“The case of Nilton and Aracely is built on the basis of fabricated facts. There is no type of evidence that links them to these accusations. On the contrary, we have shown that they are the victims,” Paico told this medium.
He even warned about a possible irregularity in the intervention report. “Those who hit Nilton were male police officers with black helmets, but the report was signed by two female police officers with white helmets as if they had arrested them. They were police officers who shot in the air,” he noted.
Likewise, he stated that his client had bruises in his eyes, severe headaches and back pain. “He was in a lot of pain. It was evident that he was very beaten and, despite that, they never took him to a hospital. They took him to a post and did not give him a medical report. The medical examiner could not give him days off because of the absence of that report,” he added.
Wilfredo Huertas Case: None of the accusations were proven
In the case of Wilfredo Huertas (28), the Judiciary also declared unfounded the request for nine months of preventive detention against him for the alleged crimes of injuries, riots and resistance to authority.
“Wilfredo already enjoys his freedom. The judge ordered a simple appearance and it is likely that the case will be archived because the Prosecutor’s Office did not appeal. None of the arguments have been proven. None,” highlighted José Barboza, Wilfredo’s lawyer, in dialogue with this medium.
Likewise, he noted that his client has a medical certificate that orders two days of care and seven days of rest, unlike the PNP agents who did not present any certificate. “The Prosecutor’s Office accused my client of having beaten the police and that one of them was hospitalized. None of that was proven,” he noted.
Congresswoman Ruth Luque: The PNP makes it difficult to access a lawyer and contact with a family member
Congresswoman Ruth Luque, who carried out oversight of the cases of the four detainees, noted to La República that there are irregularities during the detainees’ stay.
“As a congressman, I am very concerned about a fact that I have noticed this October 15 and in 2022 and 2023. There are limitations for detainees to access a lawyer and have contact with a family member. As soon as a person is detained they have the right to have a lawyer, but in practice that does not happen. The PNP does not facilitate either aspect,” he said.
To illustrate, he mentioned that in the case of the young PUCP student Diego Echevarría, his mother was only able to see him two days after he was detained. “I was very surprised to learn that and it’s something I’ve seen repeatedly,” he said.
