Congressman proposes to incorporate the crime of “urban terrorism” in Peru prior to the ‘Toma de Lima’

The president of the National Elections Jury warned that “democracy is at risk” in the Andean country due to actions of the Parliament and received death threats.

A Peruvian congressman presented a proposal to incorporate the crime of “urban terrorism” in the Criminal Code, an action that would be punishable by at least 25 years in prison. The initiative was raised less than two weeks after the third ‘Take of Lima’ takes place.

Bill No. 5525/2022-CR, consigned on Wednesday by parliamentarian Juan Burgos (Avanza Pais – Social Integration Party), seeks to “reduce crime and violence rates, as well as guarantee the quality of life of citizens and public peace”.

The legal formula claims that any person who maintains “a state of citizen insecurity in the population or a part of it through crime” be “repressed with imprisonment of not less than twenty-five years“.

“The penalty shall be not less than thirty yearsif weapons, explosive devices are used or the death of a person is generated”, reads article two of the bill.

Reaction

Consulted by the press in this regard, Congressman Ilich Lopez (Popular Action) stressed this Friday that “all Peruvians have the right to protest”, as it is guaranteed in the Constitution.

However, “if acts of violence or terrorism are committed outside of these parameters, could be taken that way. Otherwise, no,” she said.

The proposal coincides with the call for the third ‘Tama of Lima’ on July 19, the mobilization with which thousands of people, mostly from the provinces, will request the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and the advancement of general elections. .

serious accusations

The president of the National Election Jury (JNE), Jorge Luis Salas Arenas, warned on Wednesday that “Democracy is at risk in Peru”product of some actions of the legislative body.

“A part of Congress has been attacking democratic institutions for a long time,” denounced Salas Arenas at a press conference before the Association of Foreign Press in Peru (APEP).

Salas indicated that 21 congressmen have presented five bills to modify the electoral norms and thus change the composition of the Constitutional Court, while another 31 legislators raised six initiatives for the JNE to be included among the authorities who can be subjected to impeachment full on.

“Retrograde forces took over the JNE, the ONPE [Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales]the Constitutional Court, the Public Ministry, to ensure that their political criteria were the prevailing ones“, held.

Similarly, Salas Arenas announced that he will go to international forums in response to what he considers to be an attack on Peruvian institutions.

Threats of death

The head of the JNE was threatened on Thursday at a demonstration by far-right groups in front of the entity’s main office in Lima, local media reported.

“we will not back down. Our slogan is to send this prevaricator, this fraudulent, to jail, or death,” said the leader of the radical group ‘Los Combatientes’, Roger Ayachi, with a megaphone in hand.

This type of organization maintains that Pedro Castillo won the presidential elections in 2021 through fraud. However, no evidence has been found and both the ONPE and the JNE certified the triumph of the rural teacher.

“We, what we propose, we achieved, and we are going to achieve it with the support of the Prosecutor’s Office, with the support of Congress“Added Ayachi, who is being investigated for various crimes.

international repudiation

The Mission in Peru of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights express his “concern” about the death threats against Salas Arenas.

The agency emphasized that the JNE is a “key institution for the rule of law and democracy in the country.” In addition, he advocated a “prompt investigation and punishment of these acts”.

“We condemn the death threat against the president of the JNE, made in the street, openly, by extremists who seem to consider themselves untouchable“, said the associate director for the Americas of the organization Human Rights Watch, Cesar Munoz.