An IACHR delegation visits former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo in prison

First modification: 22/12/2022 – 22:42

“We accompanied the IACHR technical team on a visit to the Barbadillo prison where former President Pedro Castillo is being held,” the Ombudsman said on Twitter.

“We met with the ex-president and his technical defense and verified that the prison conditions conform to those provided for in the Penal Enforcement Code,” he added.

According to the National Penitentiary Institute, the meeting was held in private in the morning at the Barbadillo prison, located inside a police base east of Lima, where the former ruler is serving 18 months in pretrial detention accused of rebellion.

Castillo is being investigated for the crime of rebellion and conspiracy, after a failed self-coup on December 7.

The IACHR delegation is in Peru as part of a working visit to investigate the violent protests that have left at least 22 dead since the fall of Castillo.

On Castillo’s Twitter account, his lawyer, Wilfredo Robles, had written that he “requested a meeting” between his client and the IACHR mission that has been in the country since Monday.

In the publication, a message from Castillo was also disseminated, who claimed to be “arbitrarily deprived” of his rights.

Lilia Paredes, wife of the former president and asylum seeker in Mexico since Wednesday, asked on Twitter for “special attention” to her husband’s health.

let there be justice

Castillo’s relatives were received Thursday afternoon by the IACHR delegation at a hotel in Lima.

“An injustice is being committed. That there be justice and that it be very transparent for everyone,” said Vilma Vásquez, the former president’s niece, after leaving the meeting.

The IACHR mission also met with authorities from the Ayacucho region, to the south, where at least 10 people died in clashes with the military. Another group visited Lima and Cusco, in the southeast.

During their visit to Peru, they also spoke with “organizations, social movements and leaders of indigenous peoples to receive information about the protests and the context of the institutional crisis,” the IACHR, a body of the Organization of American States, said on social networks ( OAS).

According to the Ombudsman’s Office, at least 22 people have died and more than 600 were injured in clashes between supporters of the leftist Castillo and security forces.

In a statement Thursday, Human Rights Watch called on Peruvian authorities to “conduct immediate, thorough, and independent investigations” into the “murder” of protesters.

On December 7, Castillo tried to close Congress, intervene in the public powers, and govern by decree, but he did not have institutional support and was arrested on charges of rebellion. He assumed the government his vice president, Dina Boluarte.

The police detained the ex-president hours after his dismissal when he was trying to reach the Mexican embassy to request asylum.

The demonstrators called for the resignation of Boluarte, the closure of Congress and the advancement of elections. In an attempt to mitigate the crisis, Parliament approved on Tuesday to advance the general elections from 2026 to April 2024.