Peruvian justice analyzes this Wednesday the appeal of former president Pedro Castillo against his provisional prison order of 18 months. The leftist leader has been detained since December 7, after being dismissed by Congress after an attempted coup.
"I have never committed a crime of rebellion, I have not taken up arms, nor have I called anyone to take up arms," Castillo assured at the end of the hearing, held electronically and broadcast openly by the Judiciary.
The appeal is in the hands of the Permanent Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court, which in the next few hours must decide whether to accept the request of Castillo's defense to change the preventive detention for his freedom with periodic appearances with some restrictions, such as leaving the country.
In his speech, sitting next to his lawyer in the Barbadillo de Lima prison, the former president stated that the "unfair preventive detention that has been imposed on me has only served to polarize our country" and has accused the government of his successor, Dina Boluarte -elected together with him in the 2021 elections as vice president- of the harsh repression of the security forces against her supporters, which has caused -she has assured- "20 disappeared and more than 200 injured".
Following Castillo's dismissal and arrest, violent protests broke out in Peru, which left at least 27 dead at the hands of security forces. The Boluarte government - which took office on December 7 - decreed a state of emergency in some regions where the protesters caused more serious riots, which coincided with the departments where Castillo obtained the greatest difference in votes in last year's elections. in which he beat the far-right Keiko Fujimori by a narrow margin.
In his statement, the former president denounced that he is the object of "political revenge" and recalled that he was unable to govern due to the "successive requests for vacancy (impeachment) and other tricks," he said, referring to the attempts of Congress and the Prosecutor's Office to remove him from power.
"I ask for the hatred to stop and I request my freedom," added Castillo, who also asked to be able to communicate with his relatives. “I am incommunicado, I have not had telephone access to call my family,” the former president protested.
A Supreme Court judge ruled on December 15 that the former president had to remain in jail for at least a year and a half, after being accused of rebellion, conspiracy, abuse of authority and disturbance of public peace, four crimes that could be punished with a minimum of ten years in prison.
The Prosecutor's Office estimates that there is a risk of flight, since Castillo requested political asylum from Mexico, whose president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had granted it before being arrested precisely when he was going to the Mexican embassy in Lima after his speech to the Nation of December 7 where he announced the dissolution of Congress and the suspension of the democratic order.
