Lima (EFE).- Former Peruvian president Pedro Castillo (2021-2022) began a hunger strike on Monday in protest of his trial for the alleged 2022 coup attempt, which began last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a letter published on his X account and signed by Castillo as “president in captivity,” the former president said he is “unjustly imprisoned” for acts “he never committed” and denounced that the court has now forced a conviction against him for the crime of rebellion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I have decided to begin a hunger strike as of today, an action I am taking because of the injustices committed against me,” Castillo wrote in the letter also signed by his lawyer, Walter Ayala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In statements to the RPP radio station, Ayala confirmed that he is the former president’s lawyer and that Castillo is demanding a change regarding the court currently processing his case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lawyer, who is not representing him in the trial, criticized that Castillo is being prosecuted for rebellion because the failed and alleged self-coup did not take place, and argued there was no armed uprising because he did not have the support of the armed forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During Thursday’s hearing, at the start of the trial against Castillo, for which the prosecution is seeking 34 years in prison, the former Peruvian president reiterated that he was “unjustly” in prison and that he did not need the services of a public defender because his only crime was “defending the people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president of the court, Jos\u00e9 Neyra, told him that he would have the opportunity to defend himself during the trial, but that it was necessary to have a lawyer in order to comply with the legal requirements of an oral trial and that he would not be allowed to leave the hearing, as Castillo had intended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the hearing, the director of the debates, Norma Carbajal, confirmed that public defender Edgar Callahualpa was appointed Castillo’s defense lawyer as the former president had not accredited a lawyer for the trial. EFE <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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