The unusual decision was taken by the Transitory Criminal Chamber of the highest court, which ordered the previous instance that acquitted the legislator to try Bermejo for the third time, with different judges.

The ruling, issued yesterday and pending publication, invokes in this sense that in the second trial the evidence against the congressman and leftist activist was not fully analyzed and evaluated.

The magistrates ruled in favor of the appeals for annulment of the acquittal presented by the prosecutor Gino Quiroz and the anti-terrorism prosecutors Milko Ruiz and Elmer Cruzado.

Bermejo is accused of being a member of a faction of the Shining Path armed group that operates sporadically in the wild territory of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro River Valley (Vraem), and of having visited the rebels’ central camp, which he categorically denies.

During the long initial process, he presented texts evidencing his political and ideological positions different from those of the Shining Path and his defense invalidated for inconsistency testimonies that pointed out him as a visitor of the Shining Path camp.

The legislator of the parliamentary party Perú Democrático faced the second trial without having congressional immunity, since the alleged facts he is accused of occurred before his election, achieved in 2021.

After the nullity of the first trial, he was acquitted, but yesterday the Supreme Court surprisingly ordered a new trial.

The ruling coincided with a political and media campaign that, based on police reports, accuses Bermejo of being one of the promoters of large protests against the change of government in Peru, which resulted in 26 deaths.

ef/arm/lam/mrs