International

The Constitutional Court of Peru annuls the sentence against the leader of Dina Boluarte’s former party

The Peruvian Constitutional Court (TC) annulled this Thursday the sentence for corruption against the politician Vladimir Cerrón, leader of the Marxist party Free Peru in which President Dina Boluarte campaigned until 2022, after remaining on the run for more than a year, a time in which time the president began to be investigated for her alleged cover-up.

The TC declared the appeal of habeas corpus presented by Cerrón’s defense against the sentence, issued last year, which sentenced him to 3 and a half years in prison for the crime of collusion, for the concession of the Wanka Aerodrome when he was a regional authority of Junín, according to the judicial decision published by local media.

Boluarte was linked to Cerrón’s escape, after his official car was discovered by the press in a spa south of Lima, where the police searched days before for the leader of his former political party.

The Court claimed that the Junín Appeals Chamber violated the right to due motivation of judicial decisions by not specifying whether the crime of simple collusion was an instant, continuous and permanent crime.

The nullity of the sentence

The magistrates pointed out that this information is important to define the prescription of the crime, as Cerrón’sdefense maintains.

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In that sense, the TC has ordered the Junín Appeals Chamber to issue a new pronouncement, in which it responds on the limitation periods of the crime to determine whether the criminal proceedings are still in force or are being filed.

Once the resolution was released in the media, Cerrón himself celebrated the news on the social network X and said that the TC is, in recent times, “the moral reserve” of Peruvian justice.

He added that the Constitutional Court declared the sentence against him null and void for being “arbitrary”, by declaring his appeal of habeas corpus in the Wanka Aerodrome case well-founded.

Cerrón is currently being prosecuted for other cases of alleged corruption when he was a regional authority and for the last electoral campaign in which his party presented the formula headed by Pedro Castillo, the dismissed former president for his failed coup d’état in 2022, and Boluarte as vice president.

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International

Iran Reports 201 Dead, 747 Injured After U.S. and Israeli Strikes

The Iranian Red Crescent Society reported Sunday night (local time) that at least 201 people were killed and 747 injured following attacks carried out by Israel and the United States against the Islamic Republic.

A spokesperson for the humanitarian organization said more than 220 rescue teams have been deployed across affected areas and that relief operations are continuing without interruption. The official highlighted the difficulty of treating the large number of wounded and the urgent need for additional resources in impacted provinces.

Out of Iran’s 31 provinces, 24 have reported damage, according to a statement carried by the Isna news agency. This marks the first overall casualty toll released by Iranian state-affiliated media since the launch of the offensive.

Among the dead are 85 schoolgirls from a school in the southern city of Minab, according to the country’s judiciary. “The number of martyrs at the Minab girls’ school has risen to 85,” the local prosecutor’s office said, as quoted by the judiciary’s website, Mizan Online.

Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian described the attack as a “savagery” that “constitutes a new black page in the record of countless crimes committed by the aggressors.”

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Meanwhile, the international community continues to monitor the situation closely amid concerns about possible further reprisals and the broader impact on Middle East stability, energy markets, and global security.

AFP noted that it was unable to independently verify the casualty figures or the circumstances surrounding the events.

International

Pope Leo XIV Urges End to ‘Spiral of Violence’ in Middle East

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for an end to the “spiral of violence” in the Middle East, following military strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran and subsequent retaliatory bombardments in the region.

“Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of enormous proportions, I urge the parties involved to assume their moral responsibility and stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” the pontiff told the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

Speaking during the Angelus prayer, the U.S.-born pope said stability and peace cannot be achieved through threats or weapons. “Stability and peace are not built with reciprocal threats or with arms that sow destruction, suffering and death, but only through reasonable, sincere and responsible dialogue,” he declared.

The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics also called for diplomacy to “regain its role” amid escalating tensions.

In addition, the pope urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to urgently resume dialogue after several days of clashes between the two countries.

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International

Security Council to Hold Emergency Meeting on Middle East Crisis

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday condemned the “military escalation in the Middle East” following attacks by the United States and Israel against Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes, just hours before an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.

“I call for the immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation,” Guterres said in a statement.

The Security Council is scheduled to meet on Saturday at 21:00 GMT (4:00 p.m. in New York) to address “the situation in the Middle East,” the United Nations announced.

The meeting, during which Guterres will deliver remarks, was convened at the request of France, Bahrain, Colombia, Russia and China, according to a diplomatic source.