Ex-Peruvian President Castillo urges compliance with UN ruling for his release

Jailed former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo has called on Peru's justice system to immediately implement a United Nations working group's decision that declared his detention arbitrary and demanded his release. Castillo, who served as president from 2021 to 2022, is currently serving an 11-year and 5-month sentence for a failed coup attempt in December 2022.

In a message posted on social media, Castillo described the UN ruling as a "transcendental milestone" in the fight for justice amid what he calls the collapse of democracy in Peru. He asserted that the UN group's opinion unequivocally confirms that his imprisonment lacked justification and violated fundamental principles of constitutional law, political immunity, due process, and international agreements.

Castillo, who refers to himself as the constitutional president, stated that the world now knows the UN findings and can see how judicial officials and political groups acted illegally to orchestrate his arrest and removal. He claims they violated his presidential immunity by fabricating charges of flagrancy and an "uprising in arms" that he insists never occurred, thereby undermining the rule of law.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention's opinion is based on universal principles from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a binding treaty to which Peru is a party. Castillo argued that Peru is obligated to comply in good faith with its international commitments.

Castillo was arrested on December 7, 2022, shortly after attempting to dissolve Congress and take control of the judiciary to preempt a legislative impeachment process. Indications of corruption had implicated him directly prior to his attempted dissolution of Congress.