The leader of Peru’s right-wing Fuerza Popular party, Keiko Fujimori, must be tried in the prison cocktail case to prevent a possible escape, prosecutor Rafael Vela said, according to La República newspaper on July 12.
At the request of a special group of prosecutors in the Lava Hato case, the Second National Criminal Appeals Chamber held a public hearing in which it evaluated the need to imprison the leader of the People’s Power, Keiko Fujimori, for traveling abroad without judicial permission during the cocktail trial.
Following the debate, the appeals panel judges reserved the case for a vote. The new request for pretrial detention is reported to be likely to be rejected again.
It is widely believed that the cocktail trial could last between three and more than five years, so if a pretrial detention order lasts a maximum of three years, Fujimori would be released upon sentencing but could still go into hiding if she wishes.
During the hearing, the prosecutor insisted that the rules to be followed by Fujimori’s prosecutors were those set in April 2020 by the National Court of Appeals, and that the judge changed them in May 2023 without due justification. In this sense, in his opinion, Fujimori can leave the country at any time, which will allow him to avoid a public trial and a possible conviction.
Vela stressed that the judge modified the rules of conduct in order to equalize the legal responsibilities of all the defendants in the cocktail case, taking advantage of the request of prosecutor José Domingo Pérez to toughen the limited appearance before the next public trial.
Let us remember that on December 2, 2023, Judge Víctor Zúñiga of the Fourth National Court of Instruction ordered the prosecution of Keiko Fujimori and 38 other people and entities in the cocktail case for crimes related to money laundering and criminal organization.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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