The president’s defense peter castle has opted for a strategy of silence regarding all the investigations that are being carried out by the National Prosecutor’s Office, which are four in total, apart from one carried out by a provincial prosecutor’s office in La Libertad for the alleged plagiarism in his master’s thesis in 2012.
Given the recent scenario of confrontation that was drawn the day before between the Public Ministry and Castillo’s defense over the place where his testimony would be taken, the president finally decided to go to the eighth floor of the headquarters of the Office of the Prosecutor of the Nation , where he had a brief one-hour meeting with the highest authority of this institution, Patricia Benavidez. Although he was expected to respond in detail to the questions about the case of alleged interference in the Armed Forces, Castillo availed himself of his constitutional right to remain silent.
The president arrived minutes before 9 am, surprisingly, accompanied by his two lawyers, benji espinoza Y Edward Pachas, despite the fact that the day before the latter had announced that he would not comply with the “whim” of prosecutor Benavides, who at first had also agreed to go to the Government Palace to take the testimony of the head of state.
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Between comings and goings, last minute changes, the diligence could be carried out after the president went on foot from his presidential office to Abancay Avenue, in the midst of a large police contingent that later cordoned off the outskirts of the Public Ministry, where journalists, sympathizers and detractors of Castillo were already.
“I support my defense attorneys (Benji Espinoza and Eduardo Pachas) regarding the fact that I have the right to testify in the Government Palace; however, I have asked them to accompany me to the Prosecutor’s Office to defend my innocence and always collaborate with justice, Castillo tweeted just as he was going to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Laptop. Castillo thanked the company of supporters who followed him to the Prosecutor’s Office. Photo: Marco Cotrina/The Republic
What happened as soon as Castillo and Benavides met in the Illicit Enrichment and Constitutional Complaints Area was a kind of preliminary introduction made by the president where, first, he denied the charges of criminal organization and influence peddling that are imputed to him for the issue. irregular promotions in the Armed Forces. In this case, former Minister Walter Ayala and former Palacio Secretary Bruno Pacheco are also involved.
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After that, Castillo also communicated his willingness to attend all the subpoenas made by the Nation’s prosecutor for this file and the others where he has the status of being investigated (Puente Tarata III, Petroperú and Personal Cover-up); however, he asked that his preliminary statements be rescheduled today for the biodiesel purchase case and those of August 9, where he was going to be questioned about the abrupt retirement of Mariano González from the Ministry of the Interior.
In the first case, he argued that he could not attend the summons due to a visit by the president to Puno and the last due to an acting trip to Colombia that is still pending approval in Congress. After this “voluntary account” by Castillo, prosecutor Benavides began her interrogation in which the president answered each of the questions that he would remain silent.
Until the closing of this edition, The Prosecutor’s Office already had in its possession the defense briefs requesting new dates to attend the subpoenas for political agenda issues.
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Upon his departure, Castillo went to the Palace again on foot to communicate that “as many times as I am summoned, I am going to go, first to say that I am not part of, nor do I form, any criminal network. That is what I have told the National Prosecutor today and I have also told her that I am going to prove here or there, anywhere, my innocence.” However, when asked by the press about his fugitive nephew Fray Vásquez, he chose not to answer.
“To you [periodistas] they are paid to ask, not to answer”, he even mentioned from the Palace esplanade when asked about the latest versions given by the effective collaborator Bruno Pacheco.
The defense speaks
Minutes after Castillo met at the Palace with Hannibal Torres and the rest of his cabinet, left the free passage to his legal team to detail what had happened and will happen in the following proceedings that are scheduled. In summary, the president will not answer the questions of the Public Ministry until they consider the moment in which there is complete information on the effective collaborators against him, which for the moment are Pacheco, karelim lopez and Zamir Villaverde. The three point to him as the leader of a criminal network within the State, specifically control in the MTC.
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“The president, in his voluntary account, has denied the charges, has confirmed his innocence and then he has said that later, when he is summoned, he is going to testify, but that for this moment he will exercise his constitutional, legal and conventional right to remain silent, ”said Benji Espinoza in the Palace. “It is better for the president to answer everything than to do it in parts, so it will be better to declare when all the information is collected. He is not shying away or hindering, he is showing his face. He is telling himself that better than talking now is talking later, ”he said.
Although he clarified that in future the subpoenas would be attended, but only to remain silent, it was not specified when it would be the moment to speak and respond. “As long as an investigation is open, the president can testify in a week, a month, it depends on the logic and dynamics of the investigation,” added Espinoza, who responded to queries about the latest versions of a probable political asylum for Castillo. also that it was a “legend”, since the president will continue to attend when called.
Strategy. Pachas and Espinoza responded to the press. Photo: Marco Cotrina/The Republic
The right to remain silent, it should be noted, cannot be interpreted as a possible obstruction of justice, since the rule enables those under investigation to make use of that mechanism. Limiting measures can only be incurred when a defendant repeatedly fails to attend summonses from the authorities or if, at the time of making a statement, he lies or provides false information.
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Finally, the lawyer questioned the denunciations of the effective collaborators. “The word of a collaborator is of dubious origin, of little credibility. We are facing criminals [Karelim, Villaverde y Pacheco]Therefore, if what they say is not corroborated, it is worth nothing”, he concluded.
political effect
Castillo’s silence in the Prosecutor’s Office once again fueled the political confrontation. From the government side, they promoted a favorable view claiming merit for showing their faces. From the opposite side, they accused a cheating attitude by going to say nothing.
“I salute the democratic gesture of President Pedro Castillo when he went to testify before the National Prosecutor, avoiding a confrontation for legal interpretations of the prerogative of his high investiture”, said the Vice President and Minister of Development and Social Inclusion, Dina Boluarte, on her social networks on the internet.
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The president of the Congress, Lady Camones, criticized the presidential exit. “The attitude that the President of the Republic has had is unfortunate… First he says that he is going to collaborate with justice, and keeping silent is not collaborating with justice,” he told the press after the ceremony for Judge’s Day.
Contrary moods escalated. This effect would also be seen in the denial of permission for the president to go to Colombia upon Gustavo Petro’s assumption of command. The reading of Sun Tzu de Espinoza, who spoke of a strategy of deception in the change of Castillo when deciding to go to the Prosecutor’s Office, and the closed streets did not help either.
should have replied now
Approach. Iván Meini, criminal lawyer
Although it is a right to remain silent, this has reason to be in the non-obligation to incriminate oneself. Guilt has to be proven beyond silence, but an investigator usually remains silent when the answers he would have to give, if he did not lie, could compromise him or a direct relative.
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If the president wishes to collaborate and gives reasonable explanations to the accusations made against him, he should have no problem responding to the Prosecutor’s Office because that would clarify his innocence as soon as possible. The question is why he does not do it and why he keeps silent being, in addition, the President of the Republic and, therefore, an official obliged to comply with the law and collaborate with justice.
Castillo’s lawyer says that the president collaborates and goes to the summons, but at a later time he would testify. If he really wanted to collaborate and had plausible answers, logic indicates that he would have responded. He could have done it now. It was what the situation warranted and demanded.
reactions
Dina Boluarte, Vice President and Minister of Midis
“I salute the democratic gesture of President Pedro Castillo when he went to testify before the National Prosecutor, avoiding a confrontation by legal interpretations to the prerogative of his high investiture”.
Lady Camones, President of Congress
“It is unfortunate the attitude that the President of the Republic has had, peter castlebefore the Prosecutor’s Office. First he says that he is going to collaborate with justice, but keeping silent is not collaborating with justice”.
Jorge Montoya, spokesman for Popular Renewal
“By being cornered from all angles, he’s looking for a weird defense and he’s not telling the truth, he’s just playing the victim. We’re not going to get anywhere with this.”
Guillermo Bermejo, congressman of Democratic Peru
“Castillo did not escape like Fujimori or Toledo. He doesn’t commit suicide like Alan Garcia either. He doesn’t act sick like PPK either. Castillo walks from the Palace to the Prosecutor’s Office for the second time despite this circus.”