Parliament in Peru admits to trying the corruption complaint against President Castillo: what next?

The subcommittee on constitutional charges of the Peruvian parliament admitted this Wednesday to having examined the constitutional complaint that the prosecutor’s office filed against the president Peter Castillowhom he accuses of leading a criminal organization, in order to subject the president to impeachment.

“Constitutional Complaint 307 passed by a majority,” the chair of the subcommittee on constitutional charges, Lady Camones, announced Wednesday evening.

The document against Castillo and two former ministers of his leftist government was presented to Congress on October 11 by the Attorney General, Patricia Benavides.

With its decision, the subcommittee gave the green light to the process in Congress who still has a long journey ahead that could end with Castillo’s exit from power, which he assumed in July 2021.

The provision to accept the lawsuit for the crimes of criminal conspiracy, trafficking in influence and collusion was adopted with the favorable vote of thirteen deputieswhile eight spoke out against and there were no abstentions.

What’s next

So the complaint started an evidentiary stage in which the defendant can be called to exercise his defence.

The subcommittee must now evaluate the complaint and declare it admissible transmit it to the Permanent Commission of the Congresspenultimate step before sending at the plenary

The plenary session of the Congress is the only instance that can decide the fate of the president, elected to govern until July 2026. For the denunciation to flourish in the plenary it will require the votes of half plus one of legislators in the House.

is first time that the prosecutor denounces an interim president of Peru.

“A New Kind of Coup”

For the Peruvian president, the denunciation forges the beginning of a “new form of coup d’état”.

The Executive defends that article 117 of the Constitution establishes that the president can be accused, in the exercise of his functions, only for four specific casesincluding treason or obstruction of elections, but not for bribery or common crime.

But, on the other hand, there is Article 30 of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, defended by the Attorney General, Patricia Benavides.

With this approval for treatment, the complaint has made a long journey that includes several stages in the Peruvian chamber and which, according to experts, could take some time. about three months between one coming and going in the subcommittee and in the standing committee until reaching the plenary session, if any.

OSA mission

This takes place less than three days after the arrival of a mission in Lima of the Organization of American States (OEA) which will analyze the acute political crisis in Peru due to the recurring clashes between the Executive and the Legislative.

The prosecutor’s thesis is that the president operates a money laundering and procurement ring of public works constituted by their family and political environment.

Since he came to power, Castillo has lived under the siege of the Prosecutor’s Office and under the siege of a Congress dominated by the right demanding his resignation and already Tried to remove it twice.

Castle, a 53-year-old rural teacherhe says he is the victim of a campaign to oust him from power, and last month he managed to get the OAS to accept his request to send a mission to certify that democratic institutions are preserved in the country.