A delegation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) visited the former president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, in prison on Thursday to verify the conditions of his detention in a police base east of Lima, the Ombudsman’s Office reported.
“We accompanied the IACHR technical team on a visit to the Barbadillo prison where former President Pedro Castillo is being held,” the Ombudsman’s Office said on Twitter.
“We met with the former president and his technical defense and verified that conditions of detention conform to those provided for in the Penal Execution Code,” he added.
According to the National Penitentiary Institute, the meeting was held privately in the morning hours at the Barbadillo prison, located inside a police base east of Lima, where the former president is serving 18 months in preventive detention accused of rebellion.
Castillo is investigated for the crime of rebellion and conspiracy, after a failed self-coup d’état on December 7.
The IACHR delegation is in Peru on a working visit to investigate the violent protests that have left at least 22 dead since Castillo’s fall.
Read: Peru expels Mexico’s ambassador over AMLO’s endorsement of former President Pedro Castillo
On Castillo’s Twitter account, his lawyer, Wilfredo Robles, had written that he “requested a meeting” between his client and the IACHR mission that has been in the country since Monday.
The publication also disseminated a message from Castillo, who claimed to be “arbitrarily deprived” of his rights.
Lilia Paredes, wife of the former president and asylum seeker in Mexico since Wednesday, asked on Twitter for “special attention” to her husband’s health.
Let there be justice
Castillo’s relatives were received Thursday afternoon by the IACHR delegation at a hotel in Lima.
“An injustice is being committed. That there is justice and that it be very transparent for everyone,” Vilma Vásquez, niece of the former president, said after leaving the meeting.
The IACHR mission also met with authorities in Ayacucho (south), where at least 10 people died in clashes with the military. Another group visited Lima and Cusco (southeast).
During their visit to Peru, they also spoke with “organizations, social movements and leaders of indigenous peoples to receive information about the protests and the context of the institutional crisis,” the IACHR, an organ of the Organization of American States (OAS), said on social networks.
According to the Ombudsman’s Office, at least 22 people have been killed and more than 600 injured in clashes between supporters of the leftist Castillo and security forces.
In a statement Thursday, Human Rights Watch called on Peruvian authorities to “conduct prompt, thorough, and independent investigations” into the “killings” of protesters.
Read: Peru: Early elections fail, 18 reported dead in protests and thousands of tourists stranded
On December 7, Castillo tried to close Congress, intervene in public powers and govern by decree, but he had no institutional backing and was arrested on charges of rebellion. His vice-president, Dina Boluarte, assumed the government.
Police detained the former president hours after his dismissal as he tried to reach the Mexican embassy to apply for asylum.
The demonstrators called for the resignation of Boluarte, the closure of Congress and the advance of elections. In a bid to mitigate the crisis, parliament voted on Tuesday to advance the general election from 2026 to April 2024.
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