Court Keeps Ex-Peru President, Castillo In 18 Months Preventive Custody

• As countrywide protest death toll rises to 12
• Human rights office cautions Armed forces against use of firearms, teargas
• Castillo’s supporters clash with riot police during a protest in Lima

A judge in Peru has ruled that former president Pedro Castillo be held in preventive detention for 18 months pending trial on charges of rebellion for his attempt to shutter congress and rule by decree.

This is as the death toll from a week of nationwide violent protests sparked by his ousting rose to 12 as of Thursday night.

Four people were killed and 39 injured on Thursday in Ayacucho, in Peru’s southern Andes, as protesters clashed with soldiers and police, the local health authority confirmed.

Amid the chaos, the country’s Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office issued a statement demanding the Armed Forces “immediately cease the use of firearms and teargas bombs launched from helicopters”.

Reports indicated that the countrywide protests have not abated despite a government proposal to bring forward elections. Social media videos from the scene of the protests in Ayacucho showed soldiers using firearms on the streets of the city as protesters threw stones and stormed the airport.

The country’s new government declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday, deploying the army on the streets and suspending the right to gather and move freely.

The spike in violence comes on the seventh day of protests against Peru’s new president, Dina Boluarte, with demonstrators calling for the replacement of all lawmakers and the reinstatement of Castillo, who was forced out after he attempted to dissolve Congress and rule by decree in an effort to avoid impeachment over corruption allegations.

Boluarte scrambled to dispatch 16 ministers to different regions of the country in an effort to open dialogue and calm the violent demonstrations that have shaken the country. A night-time curfew was ordered in 15 of the country’s 24 regions.

“Neither violence nor radicalism will put an end to a legal and legitimate government,” Boluarte said earlier on Thursday. “There is no room for fear, but for courage, unity and the hope of a country that deserves more from its politicians.”

She urged lawmakers to “make the best decisions to shorten the deadlines and make the necessary reforms” as they met in a plenary session to debate her bill to bring forward elections by two years to April 2024.

A newborn baby, who was being transported by ambulance to Lima for surgery, died due to roadblocks south of the capital, the Director of the National Children’s hospital, Zulema Tomás, told national radio. Another child was in serious condition due to a bullet wound received during the protests in Ayacucho.

Six people had died due to traffic accidents and other events linked to dozens of roadblocks across the country, reported the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office. More than 200 civilians and 200 police officers had been injured in the past week of unrest, it added.

Violent clashes broke out between thousands of protesters and police in downtown Lima on Thursday night. Many had travelled from different corners of Peru to the capital to join a march against congress, among them Berta Chuculla, who came from Puno, on Peru’s southern border with Bolivia to support Castillo – With The Guardian reports