The Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office defended the request for preventive detention for five months against the former Prime Minister Betssy Chávez, who was granted asylum by Mexico and waiting to receive safe passage that would allow her to travel to that country, during a hearing in which the judge listened to the parties and was left pending to resolve the request.
The representative of the Prosecutor’s Office said that preventive detention is considered “ideal” in this case, since “the appearance with restrictions did not fully fulfill its purpose,” given that Chávez entered the Mexican embassy in Lima a week ago, after being released from prison in the process being followed for her participation in the failed coup attempt by former President Pedro Castillo in 2022.
The prosecutor added that the “failure to comply with all the restrictions imposed on the accused Betssy Chávez”, such as the obligation to register her biometric control every 7 days, the obligation not to be absent from Lima without authorization from the court and the obligation to appear before the judicial or prosecutorial authority at the time and date required, “irrefutably demonstrates that she violated the rules of conduct imposed against her.”
For his part, Chávez’s lawyer, Raúl Noblecilla, resigned from representing her out of respect for her “condition of political asylum” and her “decision to protect herself from a captured justice system.”
“I cannot validate an arbitrary process, full of pressure and conducted by provisional judges,” Noblecilla stated on her X social network account.
He added that Chávez continues to be “a victim of relentless persecution but is also a symbol of resistance and dignity.”
After listening to the parties, Judge Juan Carlos Checkley of the Supreme Court of Preparatory Investigation indicated that he will communicate his decision in the coming days.
Read more: Supreme Prosecutor of Peru requests preventive detention for former minister granted asylum by Mexico
Former Prime Minister of Peru will not be able to travel to Mexico
The Government of President Claudia Sheinbaum announced on Monday of last week that Chávez was in its embassy in Lima, after which Peru announced the breaking of bilateral diplomatic relations, which since the beginning of 2023 had already been operating without ambassadors as the North American country did not recognize the legitimacy of the then Peruvian president Dina Boluarte (2022-2025), who replaced Castillo.
In his latest statement on asylum, the transitional president of Peru, José Jerí, confirmed last Friday that the former prime minister “will not be able to travel to Mexico” until his government makes a decision on the safe passage that should be given to her.
The president confirmed that he will take “the time that is pertinent and that the Government of Peru determines” to announce a final decision, since his government will propose to the countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) that the 1954 Caracas Convention be modified, considering that the right to asylum has been distorted.
Also last week, the Peruvian Parliament declared Sheinbaum persona non grata, for his “unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of Peru”, a measure with no tangible effects beyond the declaration, which was rejected by the Government of Mexico considering that it is “motivated by false approaches.”
With information from EFE
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