Former President Pedro Castillo claims to be in prison for “political revenge”

Former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, who is serving a preventive prison After trying to dissolve Congress, he said Wednesday that he is a victim of “political revenge” by his adversaries and blamed the current government for the deaths in recent protests.

Castillo, who was speaking at the end of an appeal hearing against his 18-month prison term, once again denied the charges against him of “rebellion and conspiracy” after his unsuccessful announcement on December 7 of wanting to illegally shut down Congress and reorganize the judicial system.

“This unjust preventive detention that has been imposed has only served to polarize our country; everything that is done against me and this entire process is nothing more than political revenge,” said Castillo, sporting a thin mustache and chin, in a videoconference with the appeals chamber.

The former president is being held in a small prison inside a police base in a district east of the city of Lima. After his expulsion, his vice-president, In Boluarte.

The removal of Castillo by the opposition-dominated Congress sparked a wave of protests in the countrywhich in almost two weeks have left at least 22 dead -according to official data- after clashes with the police and the Army after the new government decreed a state of emergency.

“I have never committed a crime of rebellion, I have not taken up arms, nor have I called anyone to take up arms,” ​​Castillo said. “The one who rose up in arms to end the lives of more than 30 Peruvians is the current government, with a balance of more than 20 missing and more than 200 wounded,” he said.

After the hearing, in which the prosecutor’s office and the former president’s lawyer participated, Judge César San Martín, president of the Supreme Permanent Criminal Chamber, stated that the court will initiate an internal debate to resolve “immediately” Castillo’s appeal that seeks to annul his pretrial detention.