The Constitutional Court (TCP) of Peru has declared inadmissible the request of the Peruvian Congress to the highest Peruvian judicial body to ratify whether the interpretation of Article 117 of the Constitution, by which the President of Peru, Pedro Castillo, could be tried for corruption, is correct.
The plenary of the TCP has argued that it does not have «consultative competences» and that it only pronounces in accordance with the Constitutional Procedural Code, in a litigation or process that meets the basic requirements: concrete affectation to attributions of another power of the State and identities of the parties in conflict, according to a statement published by the radio station RPP.
«The collegiate decided to admit the lawsuit in which the Parliament requested the interpretation of the competences that correspond to the Congress of the Republic, according to the provisions of the Political Constitution of Peru and, likewise, to determine if these can be limited and restricted by the Judicial Power», reads the letter issued by the Constitutional Court.
Initially, the lawsuit filed by the Congress was filed to resolve a conflict of competence between the Congress and the Peruvian Judicial Power due to the precautionary measure that orders the Parliament to suspend the election of the Ombudsman, as well as other amparo proceedings, as reported by ‘La República’.
However, after the presentation by the Prosecutor’s Office of the constitutional complaint against President Pedro Castillo and the subsequent debate on the scope of Article 117 of the Magna Carta, which establishes that the Peruvian president can only be charged for four crimes such as treason, impeding elections, unilaterally dissolving the Congress and impeding the functioning of the electoral system.
The statement of the Constitutional Court comes after Pedro Castillo’s defense claimed that it was «illegal» to file a constitutional complaint against the head of state, since he has immunity and can only be tried on rare occasions.
In view of this constitutional complaint, the Presidency of Peru has asked the Organization of American States (OAS) to activate the Inter-American Democratic Charter to preserve the democratic institutionality and the legitimate exercise of power, alleging that the complaint filed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office against him is «a new form of coup d’état».
According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the President of Peru would be the head of a criminal organization active in the Ministry of Transport and Communications in complicity with the former minister of this portfolio, Juan Silva; as well as with officials of the companies Provías Nacional and Provías Descentralizado, of the presidential office and other businessmen, all in order to favor the consortium ‘Puente Tarata III’ and other companies in public bidding processes.
