Jailed former President Pedro Castillo, who is under investigation for the alleged crime of rebellion, resurfaced and shared unknown details. He attended the rights hearing he requested in his defense.
Castillo’s defense asked the Supreme Court of Preparatory Investigations, led by Judge Carlos Checkley Soria, to declare the request to exclude from the evidence collected by the prosecution the police intervention log of December 7, 2022, the day of his arrest.
During his argument, Castillo Terrones introduced himself as “President of the Republic” and assured that he never intended to leave the country. On the contrary, he was just trying to get his family to the Mexican embassy because they were under pressure and alleged harassment.
“When I decide to take my family to the Mexican Embassy due to the events that have suffered my children and my wife, I decide to leave with the same mobility as the President of the Republic. I ask Mr. Aníbal Torres to accompany me on the way there and back. And when we approached the prefecture, they stopped mobility and started pointing machine guns at us,” the former head of state explained.
“When I ask my security, he gets out of the car and comes back to tell me that there was an order to take me to the prefecture. Tell me, Judge, isn’t this a kidnapping? That’s how all this came about, they gave me forms to sign, a lot of people showed up (…) All this was part of a conspiracy. I just wanted to leave my family, I didn’t want to escape, nor was there any kind of shame,” Castillo added.
Finally, Juan Carlos Checkley Soria also heard the prosecutor’s side requesting that Castillo’s request be declared unfounded and announced that the case would be resolved in the next few hours and the offices of both parties would be notified.
