MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peruvian Congress shelves case against Boluarte

Forty-nine people have been killed by law enforcement officers since Boluarte took office on Dec. 7

Despite this week's report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemning the killings of demonstrators, Peru's one-house Congress Friday decided to shelve the case against President Dina Boluarte and several cabinet members, it was reported in Lima.

The Subcommittee of Constitutional Accusations of the Peruvian Congress declared inadmissible the complaints against Boluarte and her aides for the death of demonstrators in clashes with law enforcement during anti-government protests by 11 votes to 5 and 3 abstentions.

The complaint had been filed by the leftist Congresswoman Ruth Luque, who also singled out former Prime Minister Pedro Angulo, former Minister of the Interior César Cervantes, former Defense Minister (and current Prime Minister) Alberto Otárola, and former Justice Minister José Tello.

Luque considered that all of them had incurred in violation of the Constitution, in reference to their attributions “in the highest spheres of decision making in matters of the use of police and military forces.”

”We consider that the conduct in which they would have incurred (...) clearly violates the provisions of articles 44 and 118, paragraph 1 of the Constitution in connection with articles 1 and various paragraphs of article 2 of the Constitution, with special attention to the fundamental rights to life and physical and psychological integrity,“ states the document.

The sub-committee found the case inadmissible because ”it has not complied with the criterion of 'referring to facts that constitute an infringement of the constitution and/or crimes of function foreseen in the criminal legislation'.”

Read also: IACHR speaks of extrajudicial executions and a massacre in Peru