Peru extends pre-trial detention of former president Pedro Castillo News
© WikiMedia Commons (Presidencia de la República del Perú)
Peru extends pre-trial detention of former president Pedro Castillo

Peru’s Justice Department said on Monday it has extended the pre-trial detention of jailed former president Pedro Castillo, by 14 months. Castillo is charged with rebellion, abuse of authority, and disrupting the peace.

The former president has been detained in Barbadillo Prison since December 2022. The local news service Andina reported that the measure was taken in response to the fact that the process against Castillo is in the intermediate stage. Galinka Meza Salas, the Supreme Deputy Prosecutor, supported the request for preventative detention against the former president. According to Salas’s request, Castillo has sufficient elements of guilt, and there is a high degree of probability of conviction.

Castillo was ousted from office in 2022 for seeking to dissolve the Peruvian Congress and was accused of perpetrating a coup d’etat. The Public Prosecutor’s office then requested 34 years in prison against Castillo for the crimes of rebellion, abuse of authority, and severe disturbance of public peace and said Castillo “will be guaranteed the full exercise of his right to defense.” Following Castillo’s detention, many anti-government protests erupted in Peru, which led to numerous deaths and severe political unrest.

Castillo claimed the plan to ‘temporarily’ dissolve congress was to re-establish the rule of law and democracy in the country. However, opposition politicians said the decision went against the constitution, and the congress voted overwhelmingly to remove him from the country’s top position. Castillo was arrested by Article 117 of the Peruvian Constitution, which stipulates that the President of the Republic can be accused of treason for dissolving congress.

Pedro Castillo now faces a sentence of 34 years in prison.

 

 

 

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