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Congress of Peru rejects a complaint against the president for the deaths in the protests

Congress of Peru rejects a complaint against the president for the deaths in the protests

The Congress of Peru declared in the last hours “inadmissible” the constitutional complaint made by a legislator against the president of the country, Dina Boluarte, for the deaths that occurred during the recent anti-government protests.

With 11 votes in favor, 5 against, and 3 abstentions, the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations declared the presentation “inadmissible,” local newspapers reported.

The complaint was made by the left legislator Ruth Luque and points not only to Boluarte but also to the former president of the Council of Ministers, Pedro Angulo; the former Minister of the Interior, César Cervantes; the former Minister of Defense and current chief of staff, Alberto Otárola and the former Minister of Justice, José Tello.

In his presentation, Luque considered that those mentioned violated the Constitution in reference to their powers “in the highest spheres of decision in matters of the use of police and military forces.”

The subcommittee, however, considered that the complaint was inadmissible because “it does not meet the criteria referred to as ‘referring to facts that constitute a violation of the Constitution and/or functional crimes provided for in criminal law'”.

The report indicates that during the period that is the subject of the complaint there were various acts of violence against law enforcement and to the detriment of public infrastructure.

Likewise, it stresses that there is a legal framework for the actions of the military and police forces during states of emergency.

It is indicated that the events that occurred from December 7 of last year to February 2023 are under investigation in Congress and in the Public Ministry, for which reason the responsibility of any official in them has not yet been defined.

It adds that “since the complaint did not irrefutably determine whether there was excessive use of force by the military and police agents, or demonstrate that this would have been known to the officials denounced, they could not be held accountable,” as stated in the complaint.

In the same way, it is indicated that it is not appropriate to accuse the officials denounced for the opinions they expressed about the protests and their probable financing, since expressing an opinion does not constitute a crime.

The protests erupted on December 7 of last year, when then-President Pedro Castillo was removed by Congress and arrested, after having tried to dissolve the legislative body amid months of tensions against the Executive.

At least 49 people died due to direct action by the Police and 11 in other violent acts. In addition, thousands were injured, according to data from the Peruvian Ombudsman’s Office.

In total there are 60 deaths, if one also counts those who lost their lives as a result of the road blockades in the context of the protests.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) denounced last Wednesday that there were “serious violations” of human rights and possible “extrajudicial executions” at the hands of the police forces in Peru during the protests.

The IACHR also indicated that the response of state forces was not uniform throughout the national territory and there were “serious episodes of excessive use of force” in specific cases.

Source: Ambito

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