A Peruvian court mandates the former president’s 18-month incarceration.

On Thursday, a Peruvian court granted the government’s plea for more time to prepare their case against deposed president Pedro Castillo by ordering him to stay in detention for 18 months.

A day after the government proclaimed a police state in an effort to quell violent demonstrations that have claimed at least eight lives, the judge’s ruling arrived.

Following Castillo’s effort to dissolve Congress before of an impeachment vote, MPs last week ousted him from office, which sparked the demonstrations.

Judge Cesar San Martin Castro’s decision was made a few days after Congress revoked Castillo’s immunity from criminal prosecution.

Castillo and his legal counsel declined to take part in the online session on Thursday, claiming it lacked “basic assurances.” A public defender was in charge of defending him.

Following Castillo’s effort to dissolve Congress before of an impeachment vote, he was removed from office and put into arrest, and his supporters started demonstrating last week. With six presidents coming and gone in as many years, the most recent political crisis has further exacerbated the nation’s current state of instability.

Alcides Chinchay, Peru’s Supreme Prosecutor, said in court on Thursday that Castillo might spend at least 10 years in jail due to the rebellion allegation.

Meanwhile, a sizable protest crowd and riot police gathered in the heart of Lima on Thursday night. A curfew was also implemented by the government as permitted under the countrywide emergency declaration announced on Wednesday in at least 15 localities.

The demonstrators demanded Castillo’s release, President Dina Boluarte’s resignation, and the quick schedule of general elections to choose a new leader and members of Congress. They have destroyed police stations, occupied a military airfield, and attacked the runway of Arequipa’s international airport, which serves as a hub for several of Peru’s top tourist destinations.

The demonstrations have a negative impact on thousands of visitors. Service on the passenger train that takes tourists to Machu Picchu was halted, while barricades on the Pan-American Highway left trailer trucks detained for days, causing food headed for the capital to rot.

On Thursday, travelers in Cusco, a popular tourist destination, were stranded in hotels and the airport. 20 of them are Ecuadorians, according to a statement from the foreign ministry of that nation.

Karen Marcillo, 28, who has been forced to sleep at the Teniente Alejandro Velasco Astete airport in Cusco, said, “I was ready to travel to Ecuador on Monday, and unfortunately, they informed us that all flights were canceled due to the demonstrations. Peru’s tourist sector is still recuperating from the pandemic’s impact, which caused visits to drop from 4.4 million in 2019 to 400,000 last year.

Castillo spent a lot of his time in office defending himself against criticism from a hostile Congress and inquiries into everything from plagiarism to corruption. The future of Boluarte, who served as both his running partner and vice president, is now unknown. She is a newbie to politics like Castillo, without a support network in Congress.

Cynthia McClintock, a professor of political science at George Washington University and an expert on Peru, claimed that she is currently doing a terrific job. But doing so is difficult.

According to McClintock, some demonstrators “seem to seek type of instability at any cost,” while others viewed his removal as a chance to air long-held concerns about extreme inequality, poverty, and a lack of public services.

Though politicians hoping to save their jobs could offer Boluarte some breathing space. If a general election for Congress is held as demonstrators want, they are unable to run for re-election and would lose their jobs.

Boluarte said general elections may be held in December 2023, four months sooner than the date she had suggested to Congress only a few days ago, in an effort to appease demonstrators on Wednesday.

All of the protest-related fatalities have happened in remote, underdeveloped areas outside of Lima that are strongholds for Castillo, a political novice and former teacher from a depressed region of the Andes mountains.

Despite the official announcement permitting the military forces to assist preserve public order, there were no troops on the streets of Andahuaylas on Thursday, where at least four people have died since the protests started.

There were several grocery store owners clearing the burnt tires and rock-strewn roadways, but they intended to shut their doors due to the anticipated demonstrations sponsored by residents of the adjacent rural areas.

Prior to the third effort by parliamentarians to remove Castillo from office since his election in July 2021, Castillo made an attempt to dissolve Congress. Castillo’s car was stopped while he was driving through Lima’s streets with his security detail after Congress removed him from office.

The government’s senior prosecutor, Chinchay, argued that Castillo poses a flight danger, claiming that after leaving the presidential palace, he tried to go to the Mexican Embassy to apply for asylum.

We don’t think he wanted to go drink tea at the Mexican Embassy, Chinchay stated.

Castro said in his decision that Castillo still poses a “concrete flight risk” and that this danger “remains latent over time.” He noted Castillo’s apparent attempt to contact the Mexican Embassy, statements made by the president and foreign minister of Mexico expressing their desire to grant him refuge, and a visit by Mexico’s ambassador to Peru who visited him in prison.

Italo Dáz, the public lawyer representing Castillo, denied that the former president posed a flight danger. He informed the court that if Castillo were released, he could go back to his teaching profession since his wife and kids rely on him.

The proclamation of a state of emergency suspends the freedoms of assembly and movement and gives the military-backed police the authority to conduct house searches without a warrant or court order.

The announcement was approved by the council of ministers, according to Luis Otarola Pearanda, the defense minister.

Boluarte begged for peace on Wednesday as protests against her and Congress persisted.

“There can’t be too much blood in Peru,” she replied.

Castillo requested the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to intervene for his “rights and the rights of my Peruvian brothers who cry out for justice” in a handwritten letter that was shared with The Associated Press on Wednesday. The commission looks into claims of human rights abuses and, in certain circumstances, takes legal action.