Peruvian President Dina Boluarte testified Tuesday before Attorney General Patricia Benavides in an investigation for alleged crimes of genocide, qualified homicide and serious injuries committed during anti-government protests that left more than 60 dead in three months.
The presidential office reported that the president completed the procedure that lasted about three hours.
A small group of Peruvians yelled “murderer” at her, others carried signs with phrases such as “no more deaths.”
Before beginning the interrogation, his lawyer Joseph Campos told the press that Boluarte was not going to use “silence as a means of defense” but was going to answer the investigators’ questions.
For his part, Prime Minister Alberto Otárola told local radio station RPP that the president’s interest is “that things be clarified.”
The president was summoned in January, February and March, but until now she had not declared. Otárola was questioned in January and February in the same investigation. Also included in the inquiry are former Prime Minister Pedro Angulo and other former officials.
The protests against the Boluarte government left 67 dead and more than 1,300 injured, according to the Ombudsman’s Office. Almost all of the deceased were civilians and the majority received gunshot wounds.
In Peru, genocide is punishable by a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Boluarte came to power on December 7 after his predecessor Pedro Castillo tried to dissolve Parliament – which was seeking his impeachment – and was dismissed. Castillo is serving an 18-month preventive prison for the alleged crime of rebellion in a prison for presidents in Lima.
Since then they began protests in rural areas from the south of the Andes to demand the resignation of Boluarte and the members of Parliament. The demonstrations extended until they reached Lima and subsided from mid-February.
Nevertheless, Congress has not decided to advance the elections presidential and parliamentary elections and four initiatives to shorten the mandates of Boluarte and the legislators were shelved for not reaching the necessary votes.
According to the most recent May survey by the firm Ipsos Peru, 75% of those consulted disapprove of Boluarte.
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