Peru’s President Dina Bolluarte testified on Tuesday before an investigator in charge of the investigation into the suppression of the mass demonstrations that followed the suspension of her predecessor, in which more than fifty people have been killed in three months.

Ms. Boluarte, who replaced Pedro Castillo in December after he retired from Congress, testified for an hour and a half, answering questions in the context of the “investigation into the deaths of citizens during the social mobilizations of December 2022 and January 2023.” , according to a press release from the prosecutor’s office.

The presidency said on Twitter, without going into details, that Mrs. Boluarte made “statements about the investigations.”

The 60-year-old president was smiling broadly as she arrived at the courthouse in Lima, with a powerful force accompanying her, according to images uploaded by the prosecutor’s office on social networking sites. There was no rally, neither supporters nor opponents, outside the building in the center of the Peruvian capital.

Ms. Boluarte “wants to help reveal what the truth is,” her lawyer, Kelly Montenegro, told the newspaper El Comercio a few days ago.

The public prosecutor’s office announced on January 10 that it had begun investigating Ms. Boluarte for “genocide,” “aggravated murder” and “causing grievous bodily harm” in a row, citing her role in the bloody crackdown on anti-government protests. At least 54 people have been killed in the fighting, including six soldiers who drowned over the weekend as they tried to cross a river to avoid stone-throwing protesters. According to the Ombudsman, more than 1,300 other people have been injured, half of them in uniform.

Ministers and former ministers of her government are also in the crosshairs of the investigation.

New categories

Peru remains mired in a serious political and social crisis that erupted after the suspension, arrest and pre-trial detention of left-wing former President Castillo, who was replaced by then-Vice President Boluarte.

Mr. Castillo, 53, is accused of attempting a coup when he tried to dissolve parliament, which was preparing to overthrow him.

In a separate hearing, the former president was brought before a court yesterday that is considering a request by the prosecutor to extend his pre-trial detention from 18 to 36 months.

The prosecution still wants new charges to be brought against him, of “conspiracy and gang”, “unlawful collusion” and “unlawful exercise of influence in return”, to those of “stance” and “conspiracy” with which he is already facing.

“I strongly and categorically deny that I was the leader or that I was a member of a criminal ring,” Mr. Castillo emphasized in court. “The only crime I committed was that I served my country as the president of the Republic,” added the former head of state, adding that he feels he has been “kidnapped.”

His fall, after seventeen months in power, sparked protests and violent incidents between his supporters and law enforcement. The protesters are demanding, in addition to the resignation of Ms. Boluarte, that Congress be dissolved and that early parliamentary and presidential elections be held within 2023.