Overview
- Peru’s Dirección de Gracias Presidenciales rejected a pardon petition for Pedro Castillo that the office said failed to meet formal rules, a decision reported on Friday that stops that filing from advancing to full review.
- The commission’s report, signed by director Jhoner Quispe, said the petition and the sworn declaration lacked Castillo’s signature and did not specify which modality of clemency was being requested.
- Castillo remains jailed at Penal de Barbadillo serving an 11-year, 5-month, 15-day sentence for conspiracy to rebel from the December 2022 coup attempt and faces separate corruption and organized‑crime investigations and preventive detention orders.
- Legal experts and ministry sources say a president needs a positive technical report from the commission and ministerial refrendo to grant a lawful pardon, and those conditions are not in place for outgoing president José María Balcázar.
- The rejection continues a long-running pattern: the commission has received about 15 clemency petitions for Castillo since January 2023, many dismissed for formal defects, and unresolved requests will now be handled during the incoming administration.