between clothes | Dina Boluarte accepts silence and does not answer questions in a summons from the prosecutor’s office: behind the scenes of diligence in the public ministry | Patricia Benavides | PGE | Objections | Deaths | principle

Amid elaborate security operations with dozens of agents outside and inside the headquarters of the Ministry of Public Affairs, the President In Boluarte He left today, Tuesday A new prosecutor has been summoned to investigate the deaths in protests against his government. Unlike his last briefing where he remained silent when faced with questions from the Attorney General’s Office (PGE), this time the President did not answer questions from both the Attorney General and the Crown.

It was a short but tense session.. The President arrived at the tax headquarters with his bodyguard before 9am, the time he was called to testify. Her vehicle entered the building’s basement, from where she made her way to the 11th floor, where other attorneys such as National Prosecutor Patricia Benavides, who is in charge of investigations, and Chief Deputy Marco Human, were waiting for her. Two lawyers from the Attorney General’s office and the deceased’s counsel were also present.

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In Boluarte He had already answered the first questions of the prosecution in his summons on June 6, but remained silent before the other parties. Then, there was an inquiry by the said commission Genocide, culpable homicide and grievous bodily harm Inside December and January demonstrations 49 people died in Aburimac, La Libertad, Puno, Junin, Arequipa and Ayacucho.. All the while, the President denied responsibility for these events. El Comercio sources connected to the case described his answers that day as generic and “evasive”.

Subsequently, the public ministry extended the period of this preliminary inquiry, which was to end on September 10, by 45 days. New inquiries such as the current Home Minister were also added. Vicente Romero; Added new facts regarding protests in such regions Lima and Cuzco; And about 40 new witnesses who testified in recent days were subpoenaed. This was after PGE’s request.

He replied that he was not going to answer that.

In these circumstances, questions about the new facts under investigation were expected from the prosecution, as well as from the lawyers of PGE and the victims, who have not yet been able to ask questions about any aspect of the case. As usually happens in this type of proceedings, according to sources of this newspaper, this Thursday’s session began with the participation of the Attorney General, who read the rights of the person under investigation.

Only after this In Boluarte He said he would reject the new allegations and refer to the answers already given in his first statement. There, the president announced his acceptance of silence, according to at least three sources involved in the case. Thus, the prosecution did not ask any further questions.

In turn, the PGE indicated that they respected what the interrogator said, but also wanted to record in the minutes of the report each of the 47 questions they had prepared to ask her, the sources said. Advocate Poluiarte, Joseph Campos, he objected; But the state’s defense insisted the questions did not affect the president’s right to remain silent.

The exchange of ideas and responses between the two sides made for the most tense moment of the session. Finally, the prosecutor’s office — as director of proceedings — agreed with the prosecutor’s office and agreed to record in the minutes the questions the state’s defense was going to ask. Lawyers for the deceased adhered to PGE’s position.

Thus the process is over. Without contact with the press or citizens, the president In Boluarte He left the headquarters of the Attorney General’s office for Government House. It was 10:30. Everything happened within an hour and a half of his arrival.

“We’re not going to announce anymore.”

Half an hour later, outside Government Palace, Joseph Campos told reporters and said it was a “misinterpretation” to say the president was silent. “What we have done is that our answers given in the first report extend to others, and we do not wish to pursue them out of respect, precisely, to the victims, who do not need the show, but rather to them. should be investigated seriously and objectively.”

“In honor of the public ministry’s invitation, we attended, we testified, and then we said we were not going to testify anymore.” Joseph Campos said. The attorney admitted that it was permissible to add, “There are some questions, but of course, when I read them, there was no problem.” ““We decided to refrain from further participation, referring our responses to what we had previously established.” he added.

Asked if the best thing to do to cooperate with the research would have been to answer the questions, he said no, saying instead that “the important thing is not to be repetitive or sentimental.” The lawyer also stated that he hoped that the investigation against the President would be documented and the President’s defense speech would be approved.As for events that could have happened anywhere in Peru, the answer is the same: we gave statements in the sense that the situation and public order would be controlled, respecting fundamental rights.

For their part, other sources connected to the case said it was important for the president to respond specifically to the new facts and testimony that witnesses have given to the prosecution in recent weeks since Tina Polwart’s first statement in June. Past

The deadline for this preliminary hearing ends on October 25. So, everything points to this being the last call for the President to announce that he is under investigation, at least at this stage.

Extensive police protection

Summons to In Boluarte Earlier, the police and state security forces started standing around the headquarters at 9 am. Public Ministry Before the final visit of the President. At the time the report was issued, an estimated hundred agents, including police and state security, were inside and outside the building.

Police barricaded the front of the building located at Block 5 of Apanke Avenue. The entrance was guarded first by a line of state security agents and then by lines of agents from the Lima Police Region. Bars and police lines were placed on the sections of the Cuzco and Santa Rosa strips bordering the building. Even vehicles and pedestrians were banned.

El Comercio’s sources told El Comercio that state security agents are stationed on different floors of the Public Ministry’s headquarters. Around the place, the newspaper distinguished between police and vehicles Special Services Unit (Diverersp), Green Force, Cobra Squad, Emergency Unit (Diveme), Tactical Operations Sub Unit (Suat), Central Region Unit 1, In addition to Vice President, among others.

The elaborate scene contrasted with the silence experienced in the area during the process. Unlike what happened at her statement in June, a dozen protesters came to the venue to protest against Tina Polwart, this time there were no protesters. Pedestrians are often heard asking reporters if there is an incident or a demonstration after seeing a large number of police officers.

A similar situation occurred later in the afternoon when Alberto Otorola, head of the Council of Ministers and co-investigator of the President, appeared to deliver his report. In his case, the proceedings began at 2:30 p.m. The day before, the president did not attend the Perumin mining conference in Arequipa because he was preparing his report this Wednesday, and the minister said he eventually prepared the same report. He kept quiet referring to his previous answers.

Both scenes, moreover, occur at a time marked by civil insecurity and a state of emergency in the Lima districts of San Juan de Luricancho and San Martín de Porres. One of the problems that the executive pointed out as a hindrance in the fight against crime was precisely the shortage of police officers.

Ricardo Valdes, the former deputy minister of public security, told El Comercio that the high police presence was not justified and exaggerated for such a procedure in an already protected place like the public ministry. It is especially “At the time it had already happened First death in San Juan de Luricancho despite state of emergencyInsecurity continues to rise and precisely what mayors are demanding is more police presence to protect citizens”.

“People watching this deployment are wondering the same thing: Why shouldn’t we, as residents of a district, have such intense police protection? […] There are specific units to protect personalities which should be involved, the police specialize in protecting personalities. In many cases the state security police or special units for these situations protect the dignitaries.”.

Along these lines, he considered the level of police presence meaningless, “unless they handle information of a different nature, people are going to protest in neighborhoods, there are going to be citizen reports regarding discomfort with insecurity.” “But still, I think everything is unnecessary, it is not justified. “The message is wrong, the only thing it creates is people’s dissatisfaction.”