Peru’s ousted President Pedro Castillo made his first court appearance on Thursday since he was removed from office, arrested and charged with “rebellion” for trying to shut down the Andean nation’s congress.
Castillo, the left-leaning former schoolteacher, was taciturn and let his lawyers do the most talking in court to discuss his arrest after dramatic developments the day before. One of them, Anibal Torres, was his prime minister until the end of November. His other attorney, Víctor Pérez, said Castillo’s speech on Wednesday announcing the closure of congress “did not constitute the crime of rebellion.”
When the presiding judge gave Castillo the floor at the end of the hearing, he was unusually quiet. “That’s it,” he said, sporting the same pale expression and wearing the blue jacket he was photographed in when he was first arrested on Wednesday.
“Rebellion is a serious crime,” prosecutor Marco Huamán said during the hearing. “It doesn’t matter that it managed to be a crime.”
The hearing comes after Castillo’s gamble failed to avoid being removed from office by Congress after months of dispute. Hours before lawmakers vote on his impeachment on Wednesday, Castillo announced the closure of Congress, the formation of an “emergency government” and a nightly curfew.
The outcry was swift, with much of his cabinet resigning. Moments later, 101 out of 130 lawmakers voted to impeach Castillo, as he fled the palace.
He was then taken into custody at the town hall of Lima. Small groups of detractors and supporters demonstrated outside the building.
De Castillo’s vice president, Dina Boluarte, was sworn in later Wednesday, becoming Peru’s first female president. She called her predecessor’s actions an “attempted coup” at the ceremony and pledged to form a government “of all faiths”.
Learn more about the political crisis in Peru here.
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