The anti-corruption prosecutor requests immediate preventive detention for Keiko Fujimori

Peru has been experiencing a judicial war on different fronts since Wednesday when the tight electoral victory of the leftist Pedro Castillo has not yet been officially proclaimed. The most far-reaching irruption is carried out by the anti-corruption prosecutor José Domingo Pérez, who submitted a petition to the Fourth Investigation Court to order preventive detention against the populist candidate Keiko Fujimori.

The prosecutor requests that the appearance with restrictions for the dictator's daughter be revoked for “breach of the rule of conduct that requires not to communicate with the witnesses of the process”. Keiko would have broken the rules of his probation systematically, a “public and notorious” fact.

The violation of conditional freedom would have been carried out precisely during Fujimori's appearance before the country to announce that his candidacy had challenged nearly 200,000 votes in Sunday's elections.

In the latest update of the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), with 99.14% of the tally sheets, Castillo (50.20%) surpasses the leader of Fuerza Popular (49.80%) by 71,254 votes.

The prosecutor's request and the Popular Force (FP) maneuver, similar to the one carried out by Donald Trump in the US, are indirectly related, since Miguel Torres, the witness cited by Pérez in his brief, is part of Fujimori's legal team in the case of the challenges, he even made statements to the press. Being a witness in the case, the defendant was prohibited from communicating with him.

The Peruvian presidential candidate described the request for preventive detention against her as “absurd”. “The most absurd thing of all is the reason why he is requesting this change”, from probation to prison, Fujimori said Thursday at a press conference in which he was accompanied by the witness Miguel Torres, who admitted that he has maintained closeness with her during the election campaign.

Fujimori's lawyer, Giulliana Loza, added that this petition “lacks any legal and factual basis,” and although she admitted that Torres “is a witness in this case,” she hopes that the judge in charge of the case “declares this petition inadmissible.”.

Year of pretrial detention

Fujimori has already served more than a year in pretrial detention. A request for 30 years in prison weighs on the still candidate in the process that is being followed for money laundering and criminal association, an incrimination that has flown over her entire campaign. In fact, it is unknown what criteria the judiciary would follow if Fujimori had won the elections, since the constitutional protection for a president is maintained during his executive tenure and in the face of events that occur during the five years of his legislature.

FP's maneuver has further rarefied the post-electoral scenario in a country that is on edge before such an even count and plunged into radical polarization. The judges will take a few days to rule on the annulment of the votes, although experts consider it very difficult for the populist and right-wing candidacy to achieve its objective.

“Keiko knows that there is no fraud, that this is not going to proceed,” predicted Verónika Mendoza, leader of Together for Peru and an ally of Castillo.

“Our electoral system has many guarantees against the possibility of fraud. One of them is the right to request the annulment of the records. But a democratic organization does not abuse that right,” summarized Martín Tanaka, principal investigator at the Institute of Peruvian Studies.

In another attempt to fish in troubled waters, former governor Vladimir Cerrón, founder and leader of Peru Libre, the party that shelters Castillo, managed to get a judge to rule in his favor and annul the four-year sentence for corruption in the heat of the imminent victory of his political godson.

Elvia Barrios, president of the Judiciary, has stopped her feet: “I will not allow the justice system to be used politically, wherever it comes from. It is my duty to guarantee the utmost impartiality.”

Until now, anti-corruption judges and prosecutors in the Lava Jato process have been adamant in their crusade against corruption, which has also made the Andean country the most dangerous for former presidents.. Ollanta Humala and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski have been in prison, Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 20 years and Alan García committed suicide before being imprisoned. Alejandro Toledo awaits his extradition in the United States. Others, like Martín Vizcarra, are also under the magnifying glass of the judicial authorities, even on Wednesday his credentials as a parliamentarian were not delivered.