Peru: accused of corruption, ex-president Martin Vizcarra must not leave the country
Peruvian president ousted Martin Vizcarra on November 9.
AP Photo / Martin Mejia
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
While popular mobilization against the impeachment of President Martin Vizcarra intensified in Peru, on November 13, justice prohibited the deposed president, under investigation for alleged corruption, from leaving Peruvian territory until 'in 2022.
Publicity
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With our correspondent in Lima,
Wyloën Munhoz-Boillot
On November 13, the Peruvian courts ordered Martin Vizcarra to be banned from leaving the country for eighteen months.
The ex-president will therefore not be able to leave Peruvian territory before May 2022. This decision follows a request from the anti-corruption prosecutor German Juarez, in charge of the preliminary investigation into the alleged bribes that Martin allegedly received. Vizcarra when he was regional governor of Moquegua between 2011 and 2014. Judge María Álvarez Camacho considered that the risk of absconding had been proven.
The lawyer for the former head of state accepted this decision while expressing his disagreement, recalling that his client had already handed over his various passports to the authorities, a sign that he did not intend to leave Peru. .
"
I'm not going to leave the country
"
In a press statement on November 13, Martin Vizcarra also recalled his desire to collaborate with justice.
“
I'm not going to leave the country.
I'm not going to take refuge in a clinic or in an embassy,
he said.
I am not going to eliminate myself either
”.
A clear allusion to ex-president Alan García who
committed suicide last year
when a prosecutor arrived at his home with an arrest warrant for the alleged contributions he allegedly received from
Brazilian society Odebrecht.
Martin Vizcarra has repeatedly denied the alleged acts of corruption with which he is accused and which led to him being
dismissed on November 9 by Parliament.
Impeachment "
without legal basis
", according to the former head of state, and which plunged Peru into a serious political crisis.
Police repression
Since the start of the week,
thousands of Peruvians have marched through the streets against the dismissal of President Martin Vizcarra
.
Human rights organizations are alarmed by the police repression.
Human Rights Watch calls on the police to guarantee the right of Peruvians to demonstrate peacefully and of the press to inform.
According to the Association of Journalists of Peru, 26 journalists have already been assaulted while covering the events.
“
Among the 26 cases we have recorded, some are serious,”
explains Zuliana Lainez, the association's general secretary.
One of our colleagues from the public media was shot by the police.
He has a broken shin.
There are other cases which describe tear gas canisters being fired on the ground with the intention of bouncing them in the direction of groups of journalists, who do their information work
”
.
# Perú @OACNUDH "Freedom of información y seguridad de periodistas están protegidos durante un estado de emergencia, incluso en un contexto de protestas" Represión no quedará impune.
Estados tienen Compromisos internacionales en materia de #DDHH Libertad / seguridad para informar pic.twitter.com/xQOf7GExpL
Zuliana Lainez (@zulianalainez) November 13, 2020
“
During the first days, especially Wednesday, the police also wanted to arrest colleagues
,” she adds.
These arrests were prevented by the mobilization of other journalists who united.
They protested against these police arrests.
The police officers who intervene during these events violate their own regulations.
They do not even identify themselves when they have the obligation to be identified and they violate international standards on the behavior of the police during a demonstration
”.
► Read also: Peru: popular mobilization throughout the country against the dismissal of President Vizcarra
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