ROME – Peruvian lawyers have explained how the country’s criminal justice system works and how it is used to attack journalists reporting on the scandal-ridden Sodalicio Christianae Vitae (SCV).

Founded in 1971 by Peruvian layman Luis Fernando Figari, the SCV was at its peak one of the most influential and prestigious church groups in Latin America, but over the last decade it has been embroiled in scandals surrounding accusations of abuse and financial corruption. including sexual abuse. child abuse and international money laundering, against Figari and other senior members.

Journalists Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz, who discovered the scandals and continued to investigate the group, have faced a constant stream of criminal complaints against them from people and organizations linked to the SCV on charges such as defamation and illicit enrichment.

talking to CruxPeruvian journalist Carlos Rivera spoke of the avalanche of judicial complaints against journalists, saying: “I have no doubt that these criminal proceedings were part of a campaign of, let’s call it, legal demolition, of legal persecution, against journalists.”

“If it had happened on one occasion, you could say, hey, that was a judge’s problem, but we realized this was happening on several occasions,” he said.

Rivera represented Salinas in a criminal defamation lawsuit filed against him in 2018 by then-Archbishop of Piura José Antonio Eguren, who is among 15 members of the SCV, including Figari himself, who have been expelled from the group. in recent weeks as part of an ongoing Vatican investigation.

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Rivera and his fellow Peruvian lawyer José Ugaz explained to Crux How the Peruvian criminal system works and how it is possible for private citizens to file criminal complaints

The criminal justice system in Peru is fundamentally made up of the Attorney General’s Office, or Public Ministry, and the Judicial Branch made up of a group of judges specialized in criminal, civil and constitutional matters, Rivera stated.

In Peru, “the Attorney General’s Office here in Peru has a very specific organization,” Rivera said, noting that there are prosecutors who specialize in various types of crimes, such as common misdemeanors, organized crime, terrorism, corruption and money laundering.

Generally speaking, Rivera said prosecutors are responsible for opening a criminal investigation into an individual or individuals based on information they receive about a possible crime.

Ugaz in his comments to Crux said: “Any person can file a complaint in Peru. All of this is necessary for what is called a criminal complaint to be produced so that any citizen can go to the Prosecutor’s Office and file the complaint, but it is up to the prosecutor to evaluate the facts reported to him and decide whether to open an investigation.

“You file a complaint and the Prosecutor’s Office evaluates what is called simple initial suspicion. If the prosecutor considers that the reported facts meet the standard that leads to a simple initial suspicion, he can open the investigation,” he said.

Rivera said that once a prosecutor decides to open a preliminary investigation, he must determine who will conduct the investigation and within what time frame. Once that investigation is concluded, the prosecutor will determine whether to file a complaint with the judiciary.

Once in the judicial stage, Rivera said that there is a presentation of evidence, a hearing attended by the prosecutor and the defendant’s lawyer to discuss the allegations, and finally, a decision on whether to proceed to a criminal trial.

If this is the decision, Rivera said, an indictment is issued and then a public trial is held and when a verdict is reached, the defendants, if found guilty, have the right to appeal.

“Our criminal system allows ordinary people, ordinary citizens, to file complaints even when they are not the ones directly aggrieved, as is more or less the case with the complaints that have been filed against Paola Ugaz and Pedro Salinas,” he said.

Most of the legal complaints against Salinas and Ugaz have been for defamation, although the most recent complaints have involved accusations of money laundering and illicit enrichment, crimes of which SCV itself has been accused.

Rivera explained that in Peruvian legislation defamation is considered a criminal offense, and it is the only case in which a prosecutor does not intervene, so individuals can file a complaint directly before a judge.

“That is the only case in which the Public Ministry does not intervene. “It is considered a crime against a very particular right of people, which is the right to honor, to a good name,” said Rivera.

What this means in practice, he said, is that “if I defame you, in those cases you can go and present your complaint before a criminal judge. The prosecution does not intervene. You act as a prosecutor.”

“That is the only case, the only type of crime” in which this is allowed, he said.

It is then up to the judge to evaluate the complaint and initiate criminal proceedings or reject the complaint, he said.

“Unfortunately in the case of the journalists we are referring to, the Prosecutor’s Office has always opened investigations,” said Rivera, stating that they have done so “even though there was no evidence.”

Rivera said that this is probably a result of the political or institutional influence “that some power groups have over the Judiciary and that ends up causing judges, who are supposed to make impartial and independent decisions, to make decisions that benefit the complainant simply as consequence of that.” of political pressure.”

“That, unfortunately, is a common occurrence in Peru,” he said, saying that the SCV has a lot of power in Peru, and that he personally witnessed this during the 2018 case involving Salinas and Eguren.

In that case, which was tried in Piura, “it was evident that we were fighting against one of the most powerful people in that city. That is why, without any evidence, they convicted Pedro Salinas,” he said.

After Salinas’ guilty verdict, Eguren withdrew the complaint following widespread political and ecclesiastical backlash, and also withdrew a similar complaint against Paola Ugaz.

Ugaz herself has continued to receive criminal complaints from people and organizations linked to the SCV, including a recent case for illicit enrichment that, according to Rivera, has no legal basis, but in which the judge ordered the lifting of the secrecy of her communications, potentially exposing their sources.

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In his comments to CruxJosé Ugaz, who represented a group of SCV victims who attempted to file a criminal complaint against several SCV members that was ultimately dropped, said that in Ugaz’s case, “it is clear to me that there has been a systematic campaign to damage their image. based on these false accusations that have nothing resembling the truth.”

“It seems disproportionate to me that the decision has been made to lift banking secrecy or communications secrecy,” he stated, adding that “this apparently, as far as I know, has been done with judicial authorization, which is what the law requires.” ”.

“If there is judicial authorization, the prosecutor will have to explain why he requested this lifting and if he does not have a reasonable explanation, from my point of view, he could even be sanctioned for having abused his power,” he said.

Salinas himself also received a criminal complaint on October 23 for aggravated collusion in an alleged political plot while he directed a communication organization in 2017 in which his accusers, linked to the SCV, ask for a heavy fine and between 6 and 15 years in prison. . .

Rivera said he believes the accusations against Salinas and Ugaz are false and constitute “a campaign against the journalists who participated in the investigation” of the SCV.

Similarly, Ugaz said that “When the judicial system is used to persecute enemies by accusing them of false accusations, this is done a lot in all countries of the world, using false accusations of corruption, money laundering, etc., to deal with to discredit enemies.”

Although he does not believe that the situation in Peru is among the worst, Ugaz said about the SCV: “Clearly in their case they have used it very forcefully against Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz.”

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen