First modification:
The Peruvian justice extended this March 9 to 36 months the preventive detention for alleged corruption of former President Pedro Castillo, who is responding from prison on charges of rebellion after his failed self-coup in December 2022.
In principle, the 53-year-old ex-president must remain behind bars until December 2025, while the prosecution advances in the investigations and decides his eventual summons to trial for both crimes.
In a virtual hearing, Judge Juan Carlos Checkley ordered the second preventive sanction against Castillo, after having given him 18 months for the attempt to unconstitutionally dissolve Congress.
“Supreme Court of Preparatory Investigation imposes 36 months of preventive detention on Pedro Castillo for being the alleged leader of a criminal organization for crimes committed in Petroperú and in the ministries of Transportation, and Housing, Construction, and Sanitation,” the Judiciary said on Twitter. .
Castillo made a short intervention before the camera from prison to express his disagreement with the measure: “We are going to do what the law empowers me: we will appeal,” he said.
The magistrate also ordered 36 months of preventive detention for former Transport Minister Juan Silva, a fugitive from justice, while a former Housing Minister, Geiner Alvarado, will continue the process in freedom.
After his unsuccessful maneuver against the Legislature, Castillo was dismissed and taken on December 7 to the Barbadillo prison, a mini-prison for senior officials within the headquarters of the Special Operations Directorate of the Police, east of Lima.
His fall deepened the political crisis in Peru with protests that have left at least fifty dead, including six soldiers who drowned in a river over the weekend when they allegedly tried to flee from protesters who stoned them in the Puno region.
“Unfairly Kidnapped”
On Tuesday, during a preliminary hearing, Castillo said he felt “unfairly kidnapped” by denying before a judge the corruption charges for which he will remain in jail.
“I flatly and categorically deny being the author and being part of a criminal network. The only crime I have committed is serving my country as president of the republic,” he said.
With a vehement tone, he defended himself against the accusations against: “They are going to ask for 36 months in prison when I have pretrial detention. I will reach one hundred days of being unjustly kidnapped!”, he added.
The prosecution’s thesis is that Castillo directed a network of corruption of asset laundering and the awarding of public works contracts made up of his family and political environment.
The former Peruvian president, who had been elected in 2021 to rule until 2026, was ousted when he had been in power for 17 months.
Its vice president, Dina Boluarte, took office amid demonstrations demanding her resignation, the closure of Congress and the advancement of elections to 2023.
