LIMA (HPD) — The sister-in-law of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was released Tuesday from a women’s prison in the capital after being imprisoned for almost two months in the framework of an investigation for her alleged participation in a criminal clan to launder assets, that the president and the first lady would also belong.
Yenifer Paredes, 26 years old and raised since childhood as a daughter by the presidential couple after the death of her mother, left the Chorrillos prison and got into a car driven by her lawyer José Dionicio amid questions from reporters to whom she did not answer. .
His release ordered the day before by an appeals court reversed a previous decision of August 28 in which a magistrate imposed two and a half years in prison while he is investigated in a preliminary way. The judges issued restrictive measures that Paredes must comply with, including not being absent from her home, going to a court every month to register her fingerprint, and attending the next calls from prosecutors or judges.
Paredes was arrested on August 10 after surrendering to justice, one day after the police failed in their attempt to arrest her in the presidential palace where they even searched for her under the president’s bed, according to a search report to which The Associated Pres had access.
The prosecution accuses Castillo, several relatives, two former ministers, and even a mayor of the town where the president lived in a rural area of the Andes, of integrating an alleged criminal group to launder assets and commit crimes of corruption.
According to the prosecution, the coordinator of the alleged criminal network would be the first lady, Lilia Paredes, and the figureheads three brothers-in-law of Castillo, including Yenifer Paredes.
The prosecutor’s thesis affirms that Castillo and his alleged organization seek to take advantage of the key positions they occupy to obtain economic benefits and obstruct investigations.
The prosecution presumes that Yenifer Paredes helped the owner of a company close to the president to obtain public works contracts despite not having the economic capacity or the experience to guarantee the execution of the works.
Castillo adds six preliminary tax investigations, most for the crime of criminal organization and corruption, but he denies all the accusations.
The president cannot be accused before a judge because the Peruvian constitution says that this only happens in case of treason against the country, dissolution of parliament for cases other than those allowed or not calling elections. If arguments accumulate, the prosecution must wait until Castillo completes his administration before Congress allows him to stand trial.
Castillo is facing Attorney General Patricia Benavides, who is leading the investigations against him. Both have denounced each other before Parliament. The Organization of American States, at the request of Castillo, will visit Peru to learn about the political situation in the country.
His relationship with Parliament is also strained. The 130-seat Congress has twice sought to remove him, but has failed because it fell short of the necessary 87 votes.
Castillo’s government is scheduled to end on July 28, 2026.