The former Peruvian President Castillo in trial for a failed attempt to dissolve Congress

Conebred, former Peruvian president Pedro Castillo, attends his opinion for charges of rebellion at a police base on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, on March 4 (AP)

Lima, Peru, March 5 (AP): Former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo went to trial on Tuesday accused of rebellion, serious abuse of authority and disturbing public tranquility in a case that has polarized the South Nation. The charges come from a failed effort of Castillo to declare an emergency state and dissolve the Congress of Peru while legislators prepared a vote of political trial against him in December 2022.

Castillo failed to obtain the support of the military for their movement, and was quickly deposed by Congress and arrested after prosecutors accused him of trying to promote a coup d’etat. But the elimination of Castillo, the first indigenous president of Peru, caused great protests in the south of the country, in which at least 49 people were killed in the weeks after the expulsion of the president.

Castillo was replaced by the then Vice President Dina Boluarte, who now leads a conservative government and has built alliances with legislators of the traditional parties of the Nation. The former president’s trial is held at a police base, where he was held since he made his failed attempt to dissolve the Congress and ask for new elections.

Prosecutors have said they are looking for a 34 -year prison sentence against Castillo, a former union leader and rural school teacher who won the 2021 Peru elections with a surprise victory over the political establishment of the Nation. The leftist politician appeared in the trial half an hour late and in an opening statement he denied having been guilty of rebellion.

“All I did was express people’s wishes through a speech,” Castillo said about his effort to dissolve Congress. On December 7, 2022, Castillo read a decree on national television in which he tried to dissolve Congress and ask for new elections. Castillo did not bring a lawyer to the path, who has described as a “farce” in his social media accounts, and instead was appointed public defender.

The former president has tried to make one of the judges supervise the deleted trial, arguing that he has already expressed his views on his attempt to dissolve the Congress. Castillo also faces a separate investigation for corruption in which he has been accused of providing irregular promotions to the members of the Army and avoiding standard acquisition practices to grant a contract for a bridge.