Lima (EFE).- The plenary session of the Peruvian Congress approves the constitutional accusation of former Prime Minister Betssy Chávez for her alleged participation in the self-coup d’état that then-President Pedro Castillo tried to carry out on December 7.
The constitutional complaint, presented by the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations following a complaint by the National Prosecutor’s Office, received 66 votes in favor, 11 against, and six abstentions.
Immediately, Congress also voted and approved suspending Chávez in the exercise of his legislative functions, since he is a member of the Perú Democrático caucus, while the criminal proceedings against him last, by 66 votes in favor, 15 against and three abstentions.
Before the parliamentary debate, the former prime minister asked the plenary to approve the accusation to face a tax investigation for the alleged commission, as a co-perpetrator, of the crime of rebellion and, alternatively, of conspiracy.
“I agree,” said Chávez, who was elected deputy for the Marxist Peru Libre party, which brought Castillo to power in 2021.
The will of Betssy Chavez
He immediately expressed his “deep democratic commitment” and said that “it is necessary to reconcile this country and for that it is a priority that the social pact be the product of dialogue.”
“It is my will to request this plenary session: free me from this chalice; peace, justice and freedom”, he indicated before saying that “nobody gives us freedom”.
Chávez assured that “since day one” he has “subjected himself to the investigation of the Public Ministry,” including some that he considered “arbitrary.”
“It is not my will to go anywhere that takes me away from my homeland, I choose to remain in the land that saw me born and die there as well,” he said.
The debate
During last week’s session of the Permanent Commission, the political lawyers already presented a letter in which the former prime minister asked Parliament to approve the accusation in order to prove her “absolute innocence” before the Prosecutor’s Office.
The full Congress of Peru debated this Wednesday the proposal for a constitutional accusation, which in addition to Chávez, included former Ministers of the Interior Willy Huerta and Commerce Roberto Sánchez for their alleged participation in Castillo’s self-coup attempt.
The debate lasted for five hours, since the defendants and their defenders, members of the different benches, participated in it, and then they went to a final vote separately in each case.
The debate on the accusation presented by the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations was approved on March 14 by the Permanent Commission of Congress.
Accusation of other ex-ministers of Castillo
The plenary session of the Peruvian Congress approves a constitutional accusation against two former ministers of Pedro Castillo, the former Minister of the Interior, Willy Huerta, and Foreign Trade and Tourism, Roberto Sánchez.
So that they can face a tax investigation for their alleged participation in the self-coup.
In the case of Huerta, the plenary session approved with 57 votes in favor, 18 against and ten abstentions, admitting the accusation against the former Minister of the Interior.
While the accusation against Sánchez had 50 in favor, 21 against and 13 abstentions.
