This Wednesday the extended extraordinary period of the tax investigation opened against Dina Boluarte for the crimes committed during the social protests ended. Patricia Benavides recently issued a provision to extend the proceedings for an additional eight months. The content of this document questions the true will of the National Prosecutor to know the whole truth and establish responsibilities.
The tax provision consists of 48 pages. From the inside it is clear that it is still necessary to take the testimonies of 330 people, including relatives of the victims, the injured, personnel of the National Police and Armed Forces, as well as officials, especially from the Executive.
Pending processes
In more detail, prosecutor Patricia Benavides scheduled the following months to obtain the testimonies of 27 relatives of those killed during the protests.
In the same way, 241 injured people still need to declare, and all of them mention their identity in the tax provision. The document details that only the statements of 10 injured people were obtained and there are another 110 testimonies collected in folders opened in each region, by the special group created to investigate these events.
It is also expected that 34 people from the institutions of the Armed Forces, the National Police, and the Ministry of the Interior will appear at the Public Ministry.
It added a list of 27 officials and public servants, mainly involved in the Executive Branch, who must also appear to give their statements.
In addition, the expansion of the testimony of Manuel Gómez de la Torre, head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, who stated that President In Boluarte has knowledge of military actions during protests.
There are, then, 330 testimonies scheduled for this new extension period. A very high number that highlights the fiscal slack.
Worrying decisions
Juan José Quispe, lawyer of the Legal Defense Institute (IDL), also reported other relevant facts that leave serious doubts about the performance of prosecutor Patricia Benavides.
The investigations opened by the prosecutors of the new special group consider the classification of the alleged crimes, within the framework of human rights violations.
Prosecutor Patricia Benavides, on the other hand, investigated Dina Boluarte for genocide and qualified homicide but did not include the context of human rights violations in the resolution. This loss will be decisive for the final prescription of the crimes committed, as explained by the lawyer of IDL.
Another aspect of concern, pointed out by Juan José Quispe, is that, unlike the special team, Benavides did not declare the complexity of the case. “This means that the investigation cannot be extended to eight months for preliminary measures,” he warned.
The lawyer also reported other deficiencies in Public ministry such as the fact of not obtaining knowledge of the audios or minutes of the meetings of the Council of Ministers when the crimes occurred last December and January.
“It’s been 10 months,” he said. The investigation was very slow. No desire to investigate. If there are versions that establish that Mrs. Beluarte the events, the chain of command should have been established. From my point of view, the commission of the crime by omission is clear. He should have avoided the crimes. It doesn’t exist”.
The South
Fist. From Juliaca, Raúl Samillan, brother of Marco Samillan, killed in January, said his family declared last week. “We asked the prosecutor (Benavides) not to protect Mrs. Boluarte. By delaying time, it will cause more damage to the bereaved family members,” he said.
