Above photo: Pedro Castillo visiting the Amazon region after an earthquake during his presidency. Twitter/ Pedro Castillo.
The accusations against Castillo are based on a speech in which he called for a Constituent Assembly.
Castillo affirms that this is a rigged trial to destroy the democratic option of the Peruvian people.
The trial against former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo began in Peru on March 4. Castillo is accused of rebellion, abuse of authority, and disturbing the public peace for allegedly attempting to dissolve the National Congress at the end of 2022. Castillo has been held in jail for over two years since his dismissal by the Congress. Also accused are the former president of the Council of Secretaries of State, Betssy Chávez, and the former First Secretary, Aníbal Torres. The latter has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Castillo appeared without a lawyer at the opening of the oral trial in the Special Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, presided by Judge José Neyra Flores. According to the former president, a few hours before the beginning of the trial, he notified the subrogation of the four lawyers that were part of his defense, because, according to him, there was no sense in the trial as a whole: “I do not accept a public defense lawyer either…I have dispensed with the services of all my lawyers. I have subrogated them yesterday, in the content of this writing it is clear.”
Regarding the trial against Castillo, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said “This trial of a president of the republic is for being poor and leftist. An insult to the American Convention on Human Rights and an insult to democracy. The popular will that elected him president was mocked.”
What is the basis for the trial of the former president?
The accusation is based on a speech he gave on December 7, 2022, in which he announced his intention to convene a Constituent Assembly and dissolve the Congress after continuous attempts by the opposition to depose him from his functions and prevent any type of legislation in favor of his government program from being carried out.
Following Castillo’s speech, most of his ministers resigned. Opposing political forces and the armed forces declared that it was a self-coup d’état. The Peruvian Congress dismissed him that same afternoon and installed his Vice-President Dina Boluarte. Castillo was apprehended by the National Police and has been in prison ever since.
These incidents were followed by intense and historic protests throughout the country that lasted several months against the Boluarte government. Castillo’s former VP ordered the brutal repression of the demonstrators, causing the death of dozens of them and hundreds more to be injured, acts for which her government is now being investigated and which have been repudiated by international human rights organizations. Some have called the Boluarte government a coup government and, therefore, de facto.
Castillo argues that the trial against him is a political trial orchestrated and controlled by his enemies to destroy him and annihilate the legacy of his government. He has said that he is being held hostage in jail. In a message he clarified, “Today, in an act of patriotic protest, I refuse to participate in this judicial circus and I do not recognize those who have been designated as my executioners. I am the only one responsible for the political speech of December 7 in which I did not commit any crime of rebellion against others. None of my co-defendants has any responsibility, neither directly nor indirectly, neither before, during, or after the events. They will not be able to twist the truth or bend the will of the people. The struggle continues and sooner rather than later, we will triumph!”
Castillo posted on X, “Since December 7, 2022, I was illegally imprisoned after a coup d’état orchestrated by those who did not accept the triumph of the people. They accuse me without evidence, with witnesses manipulated by the prosecution. This trial is a farce of an oral trial, not a process of justice. From the constitutional judges to the Constitutional Tribunal controlled by the coup perpetrators, they have closed all legal avenues for my freedom and restitution.”
According to Castillo, the December 7 speech “does not constitute any crime or constitutional infraction. Political speech that today resounds with greater force in the face of the worsening of the general crisis of the State, corroborating the speech with reality; what I rightly said, and for which, from my prison turned into my trench of struggle, together with the people, today I reaffirm myself, in the imperious need for a new Political Constitution, in the unanimous rejection of the congressional dictatorship and the politicized justice system, as well as in the repudiation of the current usurper and murderous government.”