:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/IKKQO6KWUBG73EWDORQJQVHD5U.jpg "Aníbal Torres’ lawyer downplays court order prohibiting communication with witnesses in trial for Pedro Castillo’s coup d’état")
Aníbal Torres’ lawyer, Duberlí Rodríguez, downplayed the court order that prohibits his client, the former Chief of Staff, from communicating with witnesses in the trial for Pedro Castillo’s coup d’état. This is when commenting on the meeting that the former Chief of Staff held with former Minister Gustavo Bobbio – as reported by El Comercio.
“I believe there was no impediment. That’s a pretty relative topic. […] “It’s a pretty superficial thing,” he said in an interview with Canal N on January 23.
READ ALSO | Witness in investigation into the coup d’état admits meeting with Aníbal Torres, despite judicial prohibition
“Don Aníbal Torres has not denied that he had that meeting because it was a visit from former Minister Bobbio,” he said to confirm the meeting between Bobbio and his client.
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In an attempt to minimize the violation of the rules of conduct imposed in a judicial resolution on his client, he pointed out that the meeting between Torres and Bobbio was this year, after the witness had testified twice before the prosecution.
“Former Minister Bobbio had already declared December 9, 2022 and February 18, 2023. And the visit he made to Mr. Torres was two weeks ago, just this year,” he indicated. “He has already testified twice before and then makes a protocol visit.”
Gustavo Bobbio himself, who was Minister of Defense of Pedro Castillo’s government until the day of the 2022 coup d’état, acknowledged the meeting in an interview with the RPP program “It’s never too late” on January 12.
“I believe in Hannibal. I spoke with him a week ago. After that December 7 [del 2022], I spoke a week ago. I called him and said ‘Aníbal, I would like to talk to you.’ ‘Come to my house’. I ran away, I live 40 blocks from him. I said ‘what happened?’ He told me: I had no idea, nor do you. Nothing more,” was the response of the former Minister of Defense.
Despite the fact that in the resolution that ordered Aníbal Torres’ appearance with restrictions instead of the preventive detention requested by the prosecution, he was ordered as a rule of conduct not to speak with witnesses who “have testified or are going to testify” in the tax investigation. , Duberlí Rodríguez insisted that this restriction is not “so categorical” and the alleged infraction has “a minuscule importance.”
“It is not such a strict prohibition […] In the event that we take it as a prohibition, how will it affect the process? “It is no evidence at all, it is not to condemn him,” he asserted and then even said that the appearance with restrictions should not be taken seriously by describing it as mere “precautions” dictated by the Judiciary.
“No [hay que tomárselo tan en serio] because that is not going to decide the fate of the process at all,” responded the lawyer, who was previously president of the Supreme Court and the Judiciary (2017-2018).
Currently, there is a criminal accusation against Aníbal Torres in which the prosecution is asking for 15 years in prison for his alleged participation in Pedro Castillo’s coup d’état. There, Gustavo Bobbio appears on the list of witnesses offered by the Public Ministry for a possible trial against the former president and against the former head of the ministerial cabinet.
The restrictions against the former minister were dictated by the Supreme Court of Preparatory Investigation, headed by Juan Carlos Checkley. When faced with a tax request, it would be this magistrate who determines whether there was an infraction on the part of the defendant or not.
2024-01-25 02:26:52
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