Peruvian Congress formalizes charges against Pedro Castillo for criminal organization

This Sunday, the Peruvian Congress made official the charges against former president Pedro Castillo, and two of his former ministers for the crimes of aggravated criminal organization, collusion and influence peddling.

Patricia Benavides, Attorney General of the Nation, filed the constitutional complaint for these crimes on October 11, 2022 after evidence was uncovered of the alleged involvement of the former president in leading a criminal organization for the purposes of obtaining illegal economic benefits.

"We have found very serious and revealing indications of the existence of an alleged criminal organization entrenched in the Government with the purpose of taking over, controlling and directing the contracting processes in the different State agencies to obtain illicit profits," Benavides explained at the time.

The complaint, which includes Juan Silva Villegas, former Minister of Transportation and Communications, and Geiner Alvarado, former Minister of Housing, was approved during a plenary session of Congress last Friday with 59 votes in favor, 23 against and 3 abstentions.

However, this Sunday, the accusations were made official through a legislative resolution published in the Bulletin of Legal Norms of the Official Gazette El Peruano. It is now fully sanctioned, so that the Public Prosecutor's Office will be able to begin the investigation and initiate criminal proceedings for the three aforementioned crimes.

The defense of the former president

Pedro Castillo was unable to appear before the congressional session when the vote was taken on the complaint against him, this is because he is still being held in preventive detention for another investigation related to the failed coup d'état he perpetrated on December 7. However, his lawyer Eduardo Pachas was present and although he argued that Castillo had the right to defend himself in person, the request was rejected.

After this, Pachas denied the prosecutor's manuscript and affirmed that, if the former president appointed ministers as part of the alleged criminal organization, then the Congress would be part of it for having given the vote of confidence to the cabinets of those ministers.

Peru's crisis

The country has been going through a crisis since Pedro Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress and set up an emergency government as a way to thwart a vote seeking his impeachment.

From that moment on Castillo was not only dismissed but also arrested, which unleashed a wave of violent protests protests by his followers in different parts of the country that have generated shortages, paralyzed tourism and caused significant economic losses for the country.