The dictator Pedro Castillo He lived his last hours in freedom yesterday. The coup that he carried out led to his rapid arrest, but it has also guaranteed him a severe criminal sentence.
Capturing Castillo was easy for the National Police. After announcing the illegal dissolution of the Congress of the Republic, minutes before noon, the former president boarded a State security van, along with former Premier Aníbal Torres, headed for the Mexican embassy to seek asylum, according to sources consulted by Peru21.
Only moments after Parliament approved the former president’s vacancy, his own custodians proceeded to capture him in flagrante delicto and took him to the Prefecture. That is, they did not need a court order.
And it is that, with the unconstitutional closure of Parliament, Castillo committed the crime of rebellion, stipulated in article 346 of the Penal Code, and which estimates a penalty of 10 to 20 years in prison.
The norm indicates that the crime is configured when a person “rises up in arms to change the form of government, depose the legally constituted government or suppress or modify the constitutional regime.” The latter was what the ex-governor did when he publicly announced the dissolution of the Legislative.
In addition, the police officers complied with article 46 of the Constitution, which states that no one owes obedience to a usurping government.
Preventive prison
The Prosecutor of the Nation, Patricia Benavides, arrived yesterday afternoon at the Prefecture to notify Castillo that a new investigation had been launched against him, the seventh that adds up.
But, this time, Benavides has 48 hours to request the Judiciary to pre-arrest the defendant, which can be extended for another ten days, if he does not want him to escape.
The criminal Andy Carrión explained to this newspaper that, if the arrest request proceeds, the head of the Public Ministry must present the constitutional complaint to Congress so that it can continue with the preparatory investigation.
Carrión estimated that, due to the undeniable evidence, but also to the procedures that must be followed, a sentence against the former president could be issued in a year.
In the preparatory stage, the Prosecutor’s Office may request preventive detention. As this newspaper learned, the intention of prosecutor Benavides is for Castillo to face the entire criminal process in prison.
And while this happens, the other six cases that the ex-governor faces for heading a criminal organization that distributed public works and for obstructing justice will continue their course. At this rate, the Chotano professor could hear sentences without leaving jail.