the ways that are discussed to remove Pedro Castillo in Peru

LIME –

The political crisis in Peru is not over. Congress is evaluating three figures found in the Constitution that could end the government of leftist President Pedro Castillo, who came to power in July 2021. Castillo faces six tax investigations for alleged acts of corruption allegedly committed by him, his family environment and his former financiers in his last electoral campaign.

On October 12, the Attorney General’s Office filed a constitutional complaint against President Castillo, accusing him of being the alleged head of a criminal organization “entrenched” in the State that directed a series of public works tenders during his administration. This in the framework of the Puente Tarata III and Petroperú cases.

For these issues, Castillo has been accused of being the author of the alleged crimes of criminal organization, influence peddling and aggravated collusion. The Public Ministry requested that the complaint against the Peruvian head of state be approved in order to enter a new stage of the investigations.

Experts consulted by voice of america in Lima they disagree on the viability of the accusation and, in addition, they propose their own solutions.

Article 117

Constitutionalist Omar Cairo pointed out that the complaint by the Attorney General’s Office against President Castillo should not proceed. “The crimes that are imputed to him are not in article 117, where it is stated that a head of state can only be accused in the exercise of his functions for treason against the fatherland, for preventing presidential, parliamentary, regional, municipal elections, for dissolving Congress and/or for preventing the meeting or operation of the National Elections Jury and other bodies of the electoral system,” he noted.

The expert also considers that the invocation of the Nation’s prosecutor, Patricia Benavides, to resort to the United Nations Convention against Corruption in the Castillo case would also be contradictory. “Article 30, paragraph 2, of the convention says that States are obliged to adopt measures in accordance with their constitutional order. With this, he tells us, then, that all procedures must be followed based on article 117 to prosecute the president, ”he added to the VOA.

Cairo indicated that Parliament’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations should not accept the complaint because it would commit an unconstitutional act.

However, his position is not shared by Ernesto Álvarez, former president of the Constitutional Court, who told the VOA that the complaint against Castillo must proceed. “It cannot be allowed that there is a person who personifies the Nation with such serious indications of corruption as Pedro Castillo. Apart from the fact that it must be admitted, a debate should also be started for the repeal of article 117. It is necessary to eliminate it because it is a lock that avoids accusing a president of the Republic”, he says.

In addition, Álvarez does not rule out that “it could be extended to other crimes such as homicide, drug trafficking and terrorism to accuse the President of the Republic in the exercise of his functions.”

“There would have to be a constitutional reform of Congress,” he explained.

For now, the Constitutional Court of Peru rejected a request from Congress to interpret the scope of article 117 in order to analyze the procedure for the complaint against President Castillo.

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The constitutionalist Cairo maintains that if a solution to the crisis is to be found, it is for Castillo to be prosecuted through a political trial, as permitted by articles 99 and 100 of the Magna Carta.

“What could happen is that a congressman or the prosecutor files a constitutional complaint asking for a political trial to be initiated for violating the President’s Constitution. If that political trial ends in impeachment, the president loses office and there he can be prosecuted for any crime because there he no longer has the protection of article 117, which is only for the leaders who are in the exercise of their functions, ”he explained. the.

The expert indicated that the constitutional infractions that Castillo has committed throughout his term could be compiled there.

For his part, Álvarez adds that parliamentarians should resort to article 114 to suspend Castillo for permanent temporary disability, which he defends.

“In principle, all the articles and rules of the Constitution do not have to be clear. The interpretations, those that clarify, those that develop and the determined use for some circumstances. What is demanded with article 114 is that the President of the Republic be suspended while the investigations can be deepened by the National Prosecutor’s Office, which is investigating him for serious acts of corruption, in a next stage that comes to be high school,” he said.

The former magistrate said that if Castillo is suspended, he would no longer enjoy the prerogatives or the shield conferred by the Constitution for holding the presidency.

Reform

In the midst of this debate, the former Minister of Justice Francisco Eguiguren has been one of the promoters for a reform of the crimes for which an acting president in Peru can be accused.

In 2007 he published an investigation called “The constitutional and criminal responsibility of the President of the Republic in Peru: proposals for its reform” at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.

In dialogue with the VOAEguiguren argues that “if Congress wanted to do things less badly, they should reform article 117 and increase the grounds for which the president can be subjected to impeachment during his term, such as corruption, illicit enrichment, violation of human rights ”.

“What is needed? Half of the votes of the number of congressmen and a referendum. Or also two-thirds of the votes in two legislatures”, he added.

In this way, the former member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights pointed out that an exit would be given to the interpretation of article 113, which indicates the causes for which Congress can vacate a president of the Republic: death, permanent incapacity moral, resignation, leaving the national territory without permission and dismissed by article 117.

In this regard, in Parliament they collect signatures to present the impeachment motion against Castillo. It would be the third time in 15 months of government. 87 votes are required for him to be removed from the presidency of Peru.

It should be mentioned that a delegation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a recent report stating that the country is going through a political and institutional crisis due to the lack of definition of three constitutional figures: the constitutional accusation; presidential vacancy due to permanent moral disability; and, the dissolution of Congress due to the denial of trust to two councils of ministers.

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