Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori described as "unfortunate" a comment made by her Justice Minister, Ernesto Álvarez, questioning how the country's Criminal Procedure Code was drafted. Speaking to radio station RPP, Fujimori nonetheless defended Álvarez's legal credentials and said she supported a possible review of the code's rules.
Fujimori said the involvement of criminal defense lawyers in drafting the code did not mean they had acted to benefit their own clients. She said the fact that criminal lawyers were convened meant they were independent professionals, and that this was her starting premise.
She added that her minister's phrase was an unfortunate one, but that what mattered was that the debate over the code had now begun.
Álvarez's remarks to Congress
Álvarez's original comments came during his appearance before Congress's Constitution Committee, when he argued that the Criminal Procedure Code had been written by "litigating lawyers" who were thinking of their clients' interests. He went further, suggesting some lawyers could belong to the same "criminal gang" they represented. The remarks drew criticism from prominent criminal law specialists.
One of the sharpest exchanges was with lawyer Humberto Abanto. After Abanto challenged Álvarez's claims, the minister responded that the Criminal Procedure Code had failed in its essential purpose. He also said that defending the code amounted to confirming that it served the lawyers of criminals rather than the citizens who are victims of crime.
Criticism also came from Julio Espinoza Goyena, César Nakazaki and Carlos Rivera Paz. Espinoza, who said he served as technical secretary on the commission that drafted the 2004 code, noted that more than 12 people took part in that process, including prosecutors, police officers and judges. Nakazaki recalled that one of the code's main drafters was judge César San Martín. Both rejected Álvarez's version that the law's origin could be attributed solely to litigating lawyers.
Legislative powers and crime measures
Fujimori also addressed her government's request for legislative powers, which is advancing in Peru's Chamber of Deputies. She said the discussion would have to pass through both chambers of Congress, and that her government intends to seek powers to modify rules aimed at fighting crime.
Among the measures she cited were extending the period during which a suspect can be arrested in flagrante delicto, and a policy to expel undocumented migrants. She said the debate over both the request for powers and any review of existing rules would now fall to Congress's two chambers.
Despite breaking with her minister over the code, Fujimori stopped short of questioning his professional ability, calling Álvarez a great lawyer. She recalled that he had previously served as president of Peru's Constitutional Tribunal and said he had the composure and academic preparation to help build consensus and seek improvements to the rules where needed. She added that the Executive would back any review or modification that proved necessary.
Rosa María Palacios's response
Journalist and lawyer Rosa María Palacios criticized Álvarez sharply on her program Sin Guion, arguing that the minister had presented an exceptional situation as if it were the general rule.
Palacios said that if there were lawyers belonging to criminal organizations, as the minister would need to prove, they represented only a minority within the profession.
She also rejected the idea that the current Criminal Procedure Code could be described as a law created to favor criminals. She recalled that the reform represented a deep overhaul of the justice system and that its rollout took more than a decade. In her view, the code has problems with slow proceedings and deadlines, but that does not make it a failure. She said the code could not be called a failure, since it represented a change and a modernization of the judicial process.
Palacios also criticized Álvarez's response to Abanto, calling it unacceptable that the minister had attacked the lawyer after being challenged. She said the minister had passed up an excellent opportunity to stay silent. She added that constitutional guarantees were basic knowledge any lawyer should command, particularly someone who once presided over the Constitutional Tribunal.
The journalist linked the minister's remarks to the Fujimori government's request for legislative powers, noting that Álvarez had called the Criminal Procedure Code a failure even as the Executive seeks to change the law without having specified exactly what changes it plans to make. She said that if the government truly believed the code was a failure, what it was effectively announcing was an intention to repeal it altogether.
