Peru’s National Council of Justice (JNJ) fired the country’s prosecutor general, Patricia Benavides, who was suspended for blocking an investigation into her sister, Judge Enma Benavides. fire the prosecutor who led the case.

The body made the decision unanimously, considering that the prosecutor made very serious mistakes in the performance of his office. Thus, Benavides will leave the position of supreme prosecutor of the ministry and therefore the position of prosecutor of the nation.

“Another reason for his dismissal was that he favored Miguel Vegas Vaccaro by appointing him to the position of temporary deputy chief prosecutor, despite the existence disciplinary sanctions. In both cases, Patricia Benavidez was subject to a very serious disciplinary offense under the Financial Career Act,” the statement said.

Approves firing of Benavidez’s sister

In addition, JNJ dismissed Enma Benavides as senior judge of the Supreme Court of Lima and Azucena Solari as interim chief prosecutor of the Second Temporary Prosecutor’s Office, specializing in crimes committed by public officials.

In Enma’s case, he was proven to have interfered with his own investigation through his sister and lied to the public to the press regarding his disciplinary history. Five members agreed that there had been a disciplinary offense, but three favored dismissal and two favored a minor penalty to be determined by the National Judiciary Monitoring Authority.

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The judge argued that Azucena, for her part, allowed Patricia Benavidez to interfere in the investigation by publishing a report on the poor productivity of the prosecutor in charge of the case, Bersabeth Revilla. “He received the maximum disciplinary penalty for failing to act independently and impartially by uncritically confirming the reports that served as the pretext for Revilla’s removal from his position,” the agency said.

In early December 2023, Benavidez was removed from his position as Attorney General by order of the JNJ and was temporarily replaced by Juan Carlos Villena Campana. In addition to her sister’s case, she is under investigation for allegedly leading a plot to gain political support by trading votes in Congress to file pending cases that some of her deputies may have.