Peru’s Constitutional Court pauses probes into President Dina Boluarte

Boluarte, Peru’s archetypal pistillate president, has faced investigations into protestation deaths and alleged illicit enrichment.

The Constitutional Court of Peru has paused investigations into Dina Boluarte until her word ends successful 2026, citing her presumption arsenic the country’s sitting president.

On Tuesday, the tribunal suspended probes led by the nationalist prosecutor’s bureau that looked into alleged misconduct nether Boluarte.

“The suspended investigations volition proceed aft the extremity of the statesmanlike term,” the ruling explained.

One of the astir important probes had to bash with Boluarte’s effect to the protests that erupted successful Peru successful December 2022, aft the embattled president astatine the time, Pedro Castillo, attempted to dissolve Congress.

Instead, Castillo was impeached, removed from bureau and imprisoned, with critics calling his actions an attempted coup d’etat.

His removal, successful turn, prompted months of aggravated nationalist backlash: Thousands of protesters blocked roads and led marches successful enactment of the left-wing leader.

Boluarte, who took implicit the presidency, declared a state of emergency successful response, and the consequent clashes betwixt the constabulary and protesters killed much than 60 radical and near hundreds injured.

The Inter-American Commission connected Human Rights found that, successful definite parts of the country, “the disproportionate, indiscriminate, and lethal usage of unit was a large constituent of the State effect to the protests”.

It noted that “a important fig of victims were not adjacent progressive successful the protests”.

In January 2023, Attorney General Patricia Benavides launched a probe into the actions of Boluarte and her ministers. By November of that year, Benavides had filed a law complaint, accusing Boluarte of causing decease and wounded to protesters.

The nationalist prosecutor’s bureau aboriginal acceptable speech portion of the investigation, which delved into whether Boluarte’s actions amounted to “genocide”.

Boluarte has denied immoderate wrongdoing and alternatively called the protestation probe a distraction from the lawyer general’s ain nationalist scandals.

But Boluarte has continued to look probes into different aspects of her presidency.

Police successful 2024 raided her location and the statesmanlike palace arsenic portion of the “Rolex case”, an probe prompted by media reports that Boluarte owned aggregate luxury watches and high-end jewellery that were beyond her means to purchase. Critics person accused her of seeking illicit enrichment.

Boluarte, however, said her hands were “clean”, and Congress denied motions to impeach her implicit the “Rolex case”.

Another probe looked into her lack from bureau successful 2023, erstwhile Boluarte said she had to acquisition a “necessary and essential” aesculapian process connected her chemoreceptor — though critics person said it was a cosmetic procedure.

Her absence, they argue, was truthful a dereliction of duty, done without notifying Congress. In that case, too, Boluarte has denied the charges.

Peru has weathered overmuch instability successful its government: Boluarte is the sixth president successful 7 years, and virtually each of Peru’s presidents person faced transgression investigations, if not convictions, successful the past 4th century.

Boluarte, however, had petitioned the Constitutional Court to halt the investigations until her word is over.

She is acceptable to exit her bureau connected July 28, 2026, aft calling for a caller wide predetermination successful March. She has faced nationalist unit to resign since taking implicit for Castillo successful December 2022.

Source:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies