Pedro Castillo: Congress formalizes the charges against the former president and two of his former ministers of state

On Friday, February 17, the Congress of the Republic decided to approve, by 59 votes for, 23 against and 3 abstentions, the constitutional complaint against the former president Pedro Castillo. This is how the accusation was formalized in the newspaper A Peruvian for offenses of criminal organization, influence peddling and collusion.

This was presented by the national prosecutor, Patricia Benavides, who accused him of being the head of an alleged organization entrenched in the Government Palace in front of Parliament. Also, against Juan Silva Villegas (Transport and communications) and Geiner Alvarado (Dwelling place).

“Declare that there are grounds for bringing criminal proceedings against Mr. José Pedro Castillo Terrones, in his capacity as former President of the Republic; to be the alleged AUTHOR of the crimes (…) criminal organization aggravated by its status as leader, (…) to the detriment of the State”, reads the legislative resolution 006-2022-2023-CR.

Moreover, according to the final report, these alleged crimes were committed during his tenure as president, where he “allegedly abused his high position” to occupy the highest positions of other entities.

The document bears the signature of the head of the board of directors, Jose Williams Zapata, and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Martha Moyano Delgado. This appears in the Legal Standards Bulletin.

The author of the report was a member of Congress Diego Bazan of Avanza País, which first had to be approved by the Subcommittee on Constitutional Charges (SAC) and the Standing Committee. This is how it was moved to the plenary for the vote to take place, where support was responsible for Lady Camones and Bazan.

Faced with this debate, the former president had to go to Congress to exercise his defense, but he did not even attend virtually. As we have recalled, Professor Chotano is being held in the prison of Barbadillo serving an 18-month pre-trial detention, for which his assistance would be done with authorization via a platform.

The only one who was present virtually was his lawyer Eduardo Pashas, who requested that his defense be in person, completing the necessary steps. However, the president of the SAC rejected it and called it a “dilation maneuver”.

The constitutional denunciation was also approved for ex-ministers. In this case, Juan Silva is a fugitive from justice after requesting his presence before the National Public Prosecutor’s Office, but never came. This is how he reached 87 votes to be accused.

Whereas, in the case of Geiner Alvarado, it was approved with 80 votes for, 0 against and one abstention. In this sense, the accusations will be forwarded to the Public Prosecutor’s Office so that the investigation can be formalized and criminal proceedings can be initiated against the former officials.