Peru says UN opinion on Castillo's detention is not binding

Peru's Foreign Ministry has declared that an opinion from a United Nations working group, which concluded that the detention of former President Pedro Castillo was arbitrary and called for his release, is not a mandatory legal decision. The ministry emphasized that such opinions from the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention do not hold the force of international court rulings and do not directly alter Peru's internal legal framework.

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the opinions of this working group 'do not have the legal nature of an international sentence, do not constitute mandatory jurisdictional decisions and do not produce, by themselves, direct effects in the internal legal system'.

In a press release, the ministry further explained that the group, which is part of the UN Human Rights Council's Special Procedures, issues opinions and recommendations to states based on individual communications. These pronouncements, under international public law, are considered non-jurisdictional and aim to foster dialogue and cooperation on human rights matters.

The ministry's clarification comes after Castillo's lawyer, Walter Ayala, filed a habeas corpus petition. Ayala is seeking the immediate release of the former president, who was sentenced to eleven years in prison for attempting a coup in 2022. The petition references the UN working group's opinion and also seeks to nullify judicial proceedings against Castillo, including his pre-trial detention and his conviction.

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the opinions of the Working Group constitute pronouncements issued by a non-jurisdictional supervisory mechanism, whose purpose is to promote international dialogue and cooperation on human rights.

Ayala's legal action names interim President José María Balcázar, Justice Minister Luis Jiménez, Congress, and several Supreme Court judges as responsible for allegedly violating Castillo's freedom. Balcázar had previously commented that the UN document could influence the legal and constitutional scenario for granting pardons.

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that document comes to modify a bit the legal, legal and constitutional scenario of the form and manner in which a pardon can be given to a detained person.