Pedro Castillo plays last card to avoid trial for coup: How is the case going? | Policy

At the scheduled hearing 9:30 AM., Pedro Castillo’s defense will support him Dismissal Request (Document) Against the charge of rebellion. If the judiciary agrees, the process will be archived at this stage. If they refuse, the former president will be tried orally.

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Since May, in the case of Pedro Castillo spotted in coup attempt In stage Allegation Control. Hearings are held weekly by Juan Carlos Chekli, The Supreme Court is preparing to investigate the chief justice.

This is the stage of the judicial process where the Magistrate assesses whether all the formal and substantive requirements for the prosecution’s case to proceed to trial have been met.

Prosecutor Alcides ChinchayThe Second Provisional Supreme Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for handling crimes committed by officialsaccusation Pedro Castillo and To the former minister Betsey Chavez, Roberto Sanchez, Willy Huerta and Anibal Torres Suspected of rebellion.

He believed that they shared the message of the December 7 coup, unconstitutionally shutting down Congress and interfering with the judicial system with the support of the police and armed forces.

In addition, the former president was also accused of Suspected of abuse of power and Seriously disturbing public peace. That is why the request for his sentence is 34 years old, The rest are 25 years Aníbal Torres was sentenced to 15 years in prison for a single crime because of his age (81).

If Pedro Castillo’s dismissal is denied, the trial will not proceed immediately. Similar requests from other defendants must be resolved and evidence admitted at future trials. But if the request is not granted, the former president will surely be prosecuted — before the Supreme Court, which tried to intervene — to determine his criminal responsibility for the coup.

The former president’s defenders do not expect much from the judiciary to rule in his favor. In conversation with his lawyer El Comercio Luis Walter Medrano He insisted the former president was innocent but argued that justice had been “politicized” and that the top judge hearing the case had “effectively prematurely determined that Castillo had committed a crime.”

“If the dismissal is declared unfounded, we will inevitably proceed to trial.”“, explain.

From prosecution to trial

Before the start of the prosecution control, the lawyers of Pedro Castillo and other defendants filed formal and substantive submissions. The latter were translated into two types: Exceptions to inadmissibility and dismissalDespite their different assumptions, both men had the same goal: to bring tax charges.

During the charge control period, some formal opinions have been accepted by the judge and The allegation was returned to the Ministry of Public Affairs in June..

A few days later, the prosecution filed a revised charge, which the court approved. This is how you overcome the first stage: formal control. Then, progress is made in substantive control.

It was under substantial control that the various charges raised by the defense began to be debated at the end of June. Betsey Chavez, Roberto Sanchez, Willy Huerta, Manuel Losado yes Ed Invazon They supported the appeal being dismissed.

The argument is that the fact that they are accused It does not constitute the crime of rebellion. This statement has been used several times by the defense Pedro Castillo Strive to file a case during the investigation stage. However, it never succeeded. During the period of prosecution, the former president did not file such an appeal again.

Similarly, Judge Checkley All defendants’ objections to inadmissibility are dismissed. El Comercio reviewed its resolution, Confirmation of the December 7 incident A defendant can be convicted of sedition even if he or she did not carry a weapon or personally commit an act of violence.

“this Permanent Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of the Republic He noted that for an armed uprising it is not important that all those who take part in the insurrectionary acts bear arms, it is enough that they are integrated into the uprising itself and that for this work they are given tasks of any nature – financing, organization, coordination, diplomatic relations, intelligence, etc. – that have nothing to do with the use of weapons”, the judge pointed out.

Therefore, he concluded: “For the constitution of the crime of rebellion, it is not important that each co-actor carries a weapon or commits violence, because their contribution as co-actors may be carried out from another space, place or method, as long as their actions are sufficient to constitute the constituent elements of the crime of rebellion. In the same criminal context, the constitution of the crime type for the crime of rebellion is crucial.”.

The magistrate added that the arguments on whether the offence constituted a crime and whether they were guilty or not, “This should be a matter for debate at the appropriate stage of the procedure.“. That is, at a future oral trial. But first, the plea that the main allegation is that there is no evidence of a crime still has to be resolved.

July 11Judge Checkley reported that during this Thursday’s hearing, it will be up to the defense of Pedro Castillo, Betsy Chavez, Willy Huerta and Roberto Sanchez to support the decision to dismiss them. If the time comes, the defense of Anibal Torres will also do so. In addition, the prosecution is expected to join in the opposition.

Sources involved in the case commented that Pedro Castillo files three dismissalson each of the crimes charged against him. The judge had to rule on all the charges, but most importantly on the charge corresponding to rebellion.

Most likely, Checkley will issue a joint resolution regarding all defendants at the next hearing, which will be next week or in early August.

Sources agree that, after passing the oral trial phase, the dossier request is the last hurdle before a case is set for an oral trial. Exceptions to inadmissibilityThat is, if the court rejects at least one of Pedro Castillo’s dismissal proposals, andHis trial in the case has now been scheduled.

posture

Luis Walter Medrano He is the lawyer who represented Pedro Castillo during most of the prosecutorial control. In an interview with this newspaper, he said his main argument was that “President Castillo’s actions were not a crime of rebellion.”

However, he said, “Our view is that its announcement is clearly unwarranted because the judiciary has been politicized.”

“Judge Chiakley and Supreme Court Justice César San Martín Castro have actually prematurely found Castillo guilty of a crime. This means that justice has been politicized. If these concepts are correctly applied, there is no crime. At least in terms of technical defense, there is no crime,” he asserted.

He added that if the dismissal is approved, it would lead to “final filing of the process.” “If they are declared baseless, we will inevitably move to the oral trial stage for any defendant.”

Criminal Lawyer Alexander Gonzalez, Estudio Rebaza, Alcázar and De Las Casas told El Comercio The dismissal proposed by Pedro Castillo should not succeed. “The rule provides that a dismissal is appropriate only if it is not possible to incorporate new data and there are no elements of conviction linking the accused to the crime.”, he pointed out.

Gonzalez explained that the Supreme Court has determined that to deny a dismissal, only evidence is needed to establish a certain level of “sufficient suspicion” against the accused; whereas preventive detention requires a higher level: “grave suspicion.”

In the present case, Judge Checkley had already established the level of “serious suspicion” when issuing the preventive detention for Pedro Castillo, so it was logical that he also refused to dismiss.

“The judge cannot contradict himself if at that time he has already evaluated the elements of conviction (the evidence) and says that a certain degree of serious doubt is extracted from them. Therefore, everything indicates that (in the face of dismissal) he will determine that there are elements of conviction that link it. The substance of the case will now go to trial, when it will be determined whether he is innocent or guilty; but at this point, there is reason to go to trial (…) It is foreseeable that the case will proceed to trial”he commented.

The criminal lawyer also explained that if the request is rejected, there is no appeal. He added that the judge will evaluate which evidence provided by the prosecution and the defense will be admitted in future trials, and finally, The indictment has been issued.

This document will formally order a trial in the case, which will be led by other judges. Through all these procedures, He estimated the trial could begin by the end of this year or early 2025.