The Supreme Court of Preparatory Investigation of Peru has postponed until early Thursday morning the decision on the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to detain former president Pedro Castillo on a preventive basis for a period of 18 months.
The Judicial Power body has scheduled for 8.30 a.m. (local time) the hearing in which the matter will be resolved, so Castillo will remain in provisional detention until then, as reported by Peruvian radio station RPP.
Prosecutor Uriel Terán filed a request for 18 months of pre-trial detention against Castillo and former Prime Minister Aníbal Torres, for the alleged crimes of rebellion, conspiracy, abuse of authority and serious disturbance of political tranquility.
Although Castillo’s provisional detention was originally set to expire this Wednesday, the request for provisional arrest has caused the release of the former president to be postponed for a maximum period of 48 hours until the request is resolved.
This setback for the former president is added to the decision of the Supreme Court to reject his appeal to the provisional arrest, and also to the recent resignation of Ronald Atencio as his lawyer, arguing «affectations to the due process».
Castillo is being detained after he announced last December 7 the dissolution of Congress and the establishment of a government of exception. His decree, which did not receive any support, ended up leading the Parliament to support a motion of censure against him and his subsequent arrest by the country’s police.
