What happens in Peru to put heads of state behind bars or under criminal prosecution?

The U.S. Department of Justice recently petitioned a Colombian court to dismiss a request to extend the extradition process for Alejandro Toledo. If granted, Toledo Manrique He could become the third former Peruvian president to be held in Barbadillo prison.

What is happening in Peru so that heads of state are behind bars or immersed in criminal cases? Currently, two former presidents are in prison, and trials are ongoing against five former presidents.

Alberto Fujimori he is serving a 25-year sentence for crimes in the La Cantuta and Barrios Altos cases; Alexander Toledo investigations into alleged conspiracy and money laundering offenses in the Odebrecht case; in lifeAlan Garcia was investigated in the case of Love Jato, as Ollanta Humala.

Peter Paul Kuczynski he is also involved in an alleged money laundering offense; Martin Vizcarra He faces trial in the case of alleged collusion in the El Club de la Corruption case, as well as an investigation into irregular vaccination against COVID19. Pedro Castillo He is serving a preliminary sentence for a failed coup d’état and, in another case, for the alleged crime of criminal organization and corruption.

political corruption

According to criminal lawyer Luis Lamas Puccio, political corruption is common among the aforementioned ex-presidents.

“Use politics to enrich themselves and gain personal gain, and use politics to be able to hold public office in the sense that, in carrying out this public function, they know they are protected by immunity.” said.

For Jefferson Moreno, also an expert in criminal law, the process followed by the former president will be marked as the course for other ongoing presidential cases. Ollanta Humala.

“What is already at the stove is the business of the president diminished, the one who heads the list, he is already on trial, they are already finishing their testimony, then they are going to introduce expert witnesses, then documents, final arguments and that’s it, the verdict. The case of former President Humal will raise the flag of what will be decided in all other cases,” he said.

A possible solution to the long list of persecuted ex-presidents, according to constitutional lawyer Ebert Joel Campos, is to change section 117 of the Constitution, regarding presidential immunity. This article states that the President of the Republic can only be charged if he commits four crimes: treason, closing the Congress without the permission of the Constitution, not calling an election, or obstructing a meeting of the electoral bodies.

“What fits is to make changes so that during his term the president is subject to constitutional indictment, which does not mean freedom of writing, so that there are situations of instability or mismanagement,” he said.

Today, the cycle of criminal investigations against presidents continues after the judiciary determined that Article 117 of the Constitution, which deals with presidential immunity, does not prevent the prosecution from investigating an incumbent president. It’s the way that today Dina Boluarte He faces a tax investigation in connection with the death of citizens that occurred during violent protests against his government.

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