The Supraprovincial Prosecutor's Office Specialized in Human Rights and Interculturality of Junin region has contributed to imposing 9-month pre-trial detention on Neto Prado Palomino and Jesus Sulca Huaman, investigated for the alleged crime of contract killing to the detriment of Ashaninka leader Santiago Contoricon Antunez.
The restricted appearance measure and the payment of bail worth S/5,000 (about US$1,344) on Anthony Loayza Canales and Gerson Tello Asto, who would have participated as secondary accomplices in the crime against Contoricon Antunez, were also ordered.
Loayza Canales would have provided the motorcycle from which the attack was carried out, while Tello Asto would have been in charge of the scouting against the indigenous leader, the prosecutor's thesis indicated.
According to the investigation by Province Prosecutor Pedro Vega Rodriguez, Prado Palomino would have been the perpetrator of the shots that caused the death of the Ashaninka leader and human rights defender on April 8, while Sulca Huaman would have had the status of mastermind of the crime for having allegedly ordered the attack.
Sulca Huaman is said to be the leader of a criminal organization dedicated to illicit drug trafficking in Junin region.
Thus, the murder of Contoricon Antunez would have occurred in response to the information he had provided to the Anti-Drug Police so as to achieve the seizure of 200 kg of cocaine near his town, in Rio Tambo district.