The Public Ministry of Peru created a special team of prosecutors who will be exclusively in charge of investigate the crimes and violations of human rights committed in the repression of the protests between December 2022 and March of this year against President Dina Boluarte.
Through a resolution published this Monday in the official gazette A Peruvian man, the 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 common crimes that have constituted cases of human rights violations.” The document, signed by the prosecutor of the Nation Patricia Benavides, recalls that, since the protests began after the failed self-coup attempt by former president Pedro Castillo, “Prosecutor investigations have been derived for the alleged commission of crimes resulting from the excessive use of public force that would affect the human right to peaceful social protest”.
Inquiries were also opened for acts of violence “that are not included within the protected constitutional core of the right to protest” and that “have affected the physical integrity of officials and servers, as well as the infrastructure of various public entities and private property.” Faced with this scenario, the resolution says that “an orderly and speedy investigation strategy is required, following the constitutional mandate to prosecute crime.”
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, most of the investigations opened to settle what happened during the protests have in common the difficulty of obtaining and securing evidence of the alleged commission of crimes, for which reason “It is ideal and necessary to form a special team of prosecutors”.
The removal and arrest of former president Pedro Castillo in December led to the promotion of his vice president, Dina Boluarte. From that moment, hundreds of protesters took to the streets to show her disagreement with her and demand new early elections. These demonstrations left 67 dead and 1,335 woundedaccording to the balance of the Ombudsman posted on monday. For these cases, President Boluarte and several ministers, including Prime Minister Alberto Otárola, are being investigated by the Public Ministry for the alleged commission of the crimes of genocide, qualified homicide and serious injuries.