Peru’s Ex President To Be Detained For Another 18 Days, Supreme Court Rules

Peru’s Supreme Court has ordered that  ousted former president Pedro Castillo be held in pretrial detention for 18 months on Thursday, as hundreds of his supporters demonstrated outside the courthouse and across the country.

Castillo, a former teacher and union leader from rural Peru, was impeached and ousted from office last week after attempting to dissolve Congress and impose an emergency administration, a move lawmakers condemned as a coup attempt.

He has since been accused of rebellion and conspiracy, both of which he rejects.

The lengthy incarceration reflects the complexity of the case and possible flight risk, according to Supreme Court Judge Juan Carlos Checkley, after prosecutors warned that the ex-president would seek asylum outside the country and indicated the probe would take 18 months. According to Castillo’s lawyers, the former leader is not a flight risk.

Castillo remained silent in court. However, in a subsequent hearing earlier this week, he defended his actions, stating that “I have never committed the crime of conspiracy or insurrection,” and that he still considered himself president.

“I will never resign and abandon this popular cause,” he said at the time.

In the days since his removal from office, Castillo’s supporters have taken to the streets in cities across the Andean nation, in what some protesters described as a “national insurgency.”