Ministry of Industry and Trade creates a special group of prosecutors to investigate deaths during protests

The State Department has set up a special group of prosecutors that will deal exclusively with investigations of alleged crimes and violations of the law. human rights during the anti-government protests that took place from December to March last year and claimed the lives of dozens of people.

Through a resolution published this Monday in the Official Gazette Peruvian manthe prosecutor’s office formed this working group to investigate “cases with victims during social protests, so that it devotes itself exclusively to crimes committed against humanity (…) and ordinary crimes that amounted to violations of human rights and others.”

A document signed by Attorney General of the Nation Patricia Benavidez recalled that since the protests began following the failed coup d’état of former President Pedro Castillo (2021-2022), “Prosecution investigations have been conducted into alleged crimes resulting from the excessive use of public force, which would harm the human right to peaceful social protest.”

Also for acts of violence “which do not fall within the protected constitutional basis of the right to protest” and which “affected the physical integrity of officials and servers, as well as the infrastructure of various government organizations and private property.”

“Given this, an orderly and expeditious investigative strategy is required in accordance with the constitutional mandate to prosecute,” the resolution says.

The text adds that the criminal cases opened as part of the protests are characterized by a plurality of actors and victims, the difficulty of obtaining and securing evidence of the crimes under investigation, a variety of procedural actions that require the unification of powers. .

“For these reasons, it is ideal and necessary to form a special group of prosecutors to consider criminal cases with victims during social protests, which should have a specialized group of experts and comprehensive assistance to victims in the specifics of this type of investigation,” he concludes.

Over 60 deaths

Anti-government protests in Peru have killed 66 people and injured more than 1,000 in four months, according to the Office of the Ombudsman, prompting various national and international human rights organizations to condemn the use of force by security forces.

In accordance with Ombudsman49 protesters died in direct clashes with law enforcement forces, with a policeman killed after being burned alive, and another 11 people due to protesters’ checkpoints.

Boluart confirmed another death of a patient held in blockades, and UNICEF death of an unborn child, and the police reported the death of a woman in the northern region Liberty.

Prime Minister Alberto Otarola confirmed on January 19 the death of four Haitian citizens, and a few days later the office Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) increased the number to seven of its citizens stranded, exposed to climate adversity and limited access to basic services.

In addition, on March 6, the deaths of 6 servicemen were confirmed who drowned while trying to cross the river, allegedly to avoid clashing with protesters from the southern region. Fist.

In these cases, President Dina Boluarte and several of her ministers and former ministers, including Otarola, are under preliminary investigation by public service for the alleged commission of the crimes of genocide, qualified murder and grievous bodily harm. (As reported by EFE)