Sumar calls on the Government to denounce the “arbitrary detention” of former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo

Eduardo González The Sumar Plurinational Parliamentary Group has called on the Government to take all appropriate actions, “within the framework of bilateral and multilateral relations,” to denounce the “arbitrary detention” of former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo and to demand his “immediate release.” On December 7, 2022, Pedro Castillo announced, in a message to the nation, his decision to “temporarily” dissolve the National Congress, just as it was preparing to debate his possible removal from office, and to decree the formation of a government of emergency. The former president was detained three hours after the announcement. Immediately after this attempted “self-coup,” the Spanish Government issued a statement in which it “strongly condemned the rupture of constitutional order in Peru” and welcomed “the restoration of democratic normality” in the country. In a non-binding motion presented on July 21 for debate and approval in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress, Sumar (a junior partner in Pedro Sánchez's coalition government) denounces that the "former constitutional president of the Republic of Peru, Pedro Castillo Terrones," remains "deprived of his liberty since December 7, 2022, in the Barbadillo Penitentiary (Lima), subjected to a prolonged regime of pretrial detention while the criminal proceedings against him remain paralyzed." According to the party led by Vice President Yolanda Díaz, "since the beginning of his detention, numerous complaints have been filed regarding the legality of his deprivation of liberty, respect for the constitutional guarantees provided for the prosecution of a president of the Republic, the effective exercise of his right to defense, and the conditions of his confinement." Furthermore, it continues, "various international bodies have also expressed their concern about the evolution of the rule of law in Peru." "In particular, the The UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers warned that certain reforms could compromise judicial independence by subjecting judges and prosecutors to pressures incompatible with the independent exercise of their functions,” it recalls. “Likewise, the political crisis triggered by the removal of President Castillo was accompanied by severe repression of the social mobilizations that took place between December 2022 and the first months of 2023,” it continues. “International human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, documented excessive and, in many cases, lethal use of force by security forces, with dozens of deaths, hundreds of injuries, and numerous arrests,” it adds. Furthermore, the motion presented by MPs Agustín Santos Maraver (former Spanish Ambassador to the UN) and Gerardo Pisarello recalls that the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has warned that “the deprivation of liberty of former President Pedro Castillo's detention constitutes an arbitrary arrest,” as it violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and various provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and because “essential guarantees of the right to a fair trial were not respected during the proceedings, including the right to a defense, the presumption of innocence, and the right to be tried by an independent and impartial authority.” In the opinion of the aforementioned Working Group, “the appropriate remedy to redress the declared violation is the immediate release of José Pedro Castillo Terrones, in addition to the recognition of his right to effective reparation under international law.” Therefore, Sumar urges the Government to “promote, within the framework of bilateral and multilateral relations, all appropriate actions to ensure compliance with the recommendations contained in Opinion No. 78/2025 of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the United Nations Human Rights Council, especially the one concerning the immediate release of the former constitutional president of the Republic of Peru, José Pedro Castillo.”

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