By Biodun Busari

A judicial panel in the Peruvian Supreme Court on Thursday has ordered that the ousted President Pedro Castillo should spend 18 months in the custody.

Castillo who was initially jailed for seven days will remain behind bars as prosecutors continue their investigation into criminal allegations levelled against him.

The erstwhile president was impeached and arrested on December 7 after lawmakers accused him of planning to dissolve the Congress.

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While the South American country’s parliament installed Castillo’s vice, Dina Boluarte as his successor, the former denied all charges against him and asserted he remains Peru’s lawful president.

Protests have erupted in the country since his removal, and the judge feared that Castillo might escape from Peru to get asylum in Mexico if he was released.

Earlier this week, four nations led by leftist presidents – Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico – signed onto a joint statement declaring Castillo “a victim of undemocratic harassment.”

A bloc of left-wing countries meeting in Havana, including Cuba, Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua, also forcefully backed the jailed Castillo, rejecting what they described as “the political framework created by right-wing forces.”

In his ruling, the Peruvian apex court judge, Juan Carlos Checkley said, Castillo “remains latent over time. Besides Castillo’s apparent effort to reach the Mexican embassy, he cited remarks from Mexico’s president and foreign minister regarding their country’s willingness to offer him asylum and a jail visit he received from Mexico’s ambassador in Peru.”