The former president of Peru Pedro Castillo has demanded this Friday to be released from prison after a group of United Nations specialists determined in a report released on Thursday that his arrest was arbitrary and recommended his immediate release.
Castillo has stressed that this "historic decision" confirms "unequivocally" that his imprisonment lacked legal basis and that the Peruvian State "flagrantly violated" his Human Rights.
"I was the subject of an arbitrary detention while I was exercising the office of president of the Republic," he reiterated in a statement released on social media, in which he cites the recommendation of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in favor of his release.
"The world now knows the findings contained in this opinion and can observe how the officials of the justice system and the political organizations that orchestrated my arrest and my immediate dismissal acted in a totally illegal manner, violating presidential immunity by fabricating a non-existent figure of flagrancy and a supposed 'uprising in arms' that never occurred," he added.
The former president has called on "all national and international human rights protection bodies, as well as the instances of the administration of justice in Peru" to "immediately" respect and execute "what has been decided by this United Nations body," warning that, if ignored, the Peruvian State will place itself "in a condition of open rebellion and violation of international law."
Castillo is currently serving an eleven-year prison sentence for the crime of rebellion, stemming from the failed attempted self-coup d'état in December 2022, when he announced the dissolution of Congress and the convening of a new constituent assembly in response to the Legislative Branch's blocking of his legislative initiatives.
Parallel to this sentence, the former leader faces another judicial process for alleged corruption and for his supposed role as leader of a criminal organization.