Thirteen months after former President Pedro Castillo's frustrated attempt to dissolve Congress and establish an exceptional government, through a trembling Message to the Nation, the Prosecutor's Office presented its criminal accusation, requesting 34 years in prison against the union teacher for the crimes. of rebellion, abuse of authority and serious disturbance of public tranquility. Castillo is currently facing two preventive detention measures: for this case and for being the alleged leader of a criminal organization that took root in the Palace.
His circle of power is also included in the accusation: Betssy Chávez, former president of the Council of Ministers; Willy Huerta, former Minister of the Interior; Roberto Sánchez, former Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism; and Aníbal Torres, former prime minister. The request for the first three for the crime of rebellion is 25 years while for Torres, who legally represented Castillo during his detention, it is 15 years. Betssy Chávez has tried to distance herself from the speech that Castillo read, she has even denied knowing what it was about, but the truth is that some events put her in check: a message on the ministers' WhatsApp, an hour before the event took place, where he asks them for “unity and cohesion on a historic day.”
Beyond the fact that Pedro Castillo was captured by his own bodyguard and his attempt was dissolved in a matter of hours, which showed no support from the Armed Forces, according to the prosecutor's thesis there were some high-ranking officers who did follow his orders. For this reason, 25 years in prison have been requested for PNP General Manuel Lozada Morales, Commander Justo Jesús Venero Mellado and Lieutenant Eder Antonio Infanzón Chávez.
During all these months, Pedro Castillo's defense has insisted on the argument that his client did not carry out a coup d'état because it was never carried out and, therefore, it does not qualify as a rebellion, since he did not take up arms. In an interview with EL PAÍS, Argentine lawyer Eugenio Raúl Zaffaroni pointed out that “the attempt always has to be ideal. Not only is it homicide if I kill someone, there can also be attempted homicide. But if I want to kill someone with a parsley, obviously not. He knew that he didn't have any support.”
Zaffaroni, like the lawyer Guido Croxatto, consider that the speech of the man with the hat who won the 2021 elections was a “proclamation to tell the people what they had to do” despite the fact that at that time due to his inauguration he was the Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces. “Suppose he believed that he held the power, but that never had an effect,” they maintain.
In one of the last hearings, last December, Pedro Castillo questioned his confinement, comparing himself to former President Alberto Fujimori, who was released amid questions without serving his sentence for crimes against humanity. “I would like the prosecutor, the attorney, to show a voucher, sufficient proof where he says that I receive money (…) If Alberto Fujimori, with the crimes that the country and the whole world knows about, is free, which “Is that the reason for keeping me locked up?”
Castillo remains imprisoned in the Barbadillo prison in Ate, where he was a neighbor of Fujimori and still is a neighbor of former president Alejandro Toledo, accused of collusion and money laundering. In the coming days, the control stage of the content of the tax accusation will begin with the participation of the parties involved. The next step will be the oral trial and the eventual sentence.
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