Cajamarca Prosecutor's Office creates environmental prosecutor's office based in Hualgayoc

The Attorney General’s Office has converted the Miguel Iglesias Mixed Provincial Prosecutor’s Office into the Cajamarca Provincial Specialized Environmental Prosecutor’s Office, based in the district of Hualgayoc, through Resolution No. 2758-2026-MP-FN, signed in Lima on September 8, 2026, and published in the Official Gazette El Peruano on Wednesday, September 9, 2026. The measure, signed by the Attorney General Tomás Aladino Gálvez Villegas, seeks to strengthen the institutional presence of the Public Ministry and optimize the criminal prosecution of environmental crimes in the northern area of the Cajamarca Fiscal District.

The decision is based on technical report No. 000166-2026-MP-FN-STI-NCPP from the Technical Office for the Implementation of the New Criminal Procedure Code, dated August 28, 2026, and the request from the Presidency of the Board of Superior Prosecutors of the Cajamarca Fiscal District, which requested the conversion to territorially decentralize specialized prosecution, particularly in the provinces of Hualgayoc, Chota, Santa Cruz, and San Miguel, which are affected by territorial breadth and geographical dispersion.

Conversion and relocation of the prosecutor’s office

The first article of the resolution converts the mixed prosecutor’s office into a specialized environmental prosecutor’s office, including all its prosecutorial and administrative staff, and orders its relocation to the district of Hualgayoc. It is established that the provinces of Hualgayoc and Chota comprise the territorial jurisdiction of the new prosecutor’s office, and the functional jurisdiction of the Chota Mixed Superior Prosecutor’s Office is expanded to hear cases assumed by the specialized prosecutor’s office.

To ensure the continuity of service within the scope of the former mixed prosecutor’s office, the territorial jurisdiction of the Celendín prosecutor’s offices is expanded:

• The First and Second Celendín Corporate Provincial Criminal Prosecutor’s Offices assume criminal matters for the districts of Miguel Iglesias, Chumuch, Cortegana, and La Libertad de Pallán.
• The Celendín Provincial Family Prosecutor’s Office assumes jurisdiction over family matters for those same districts.
• The pending criminal caseload is referred to the criminal prosecutor’s offices of Celendín, and family cases to the family prosecutor’s office.

Procedural caseload and justification

The resolution details that the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor’s Office of Cajamarca, based in Cajamarca, recorded an intake of 722 cases in 2025, of which 207 were resolved, with an allocation of 224 cases per prosecutor, a figure that exceeds the national average of 208 cases for that specialty. For its part, the Mixed Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Miguel Iglesias recorded 588 cases in the same period, with a predominant load of 537 criminal cases and 51 family law cases, allocating 147 cases per prosecutor, which is below the national reference average of 542 cases for mixed provincial prosecutor’s offices.

The Public Ministry maintains as institutional policy the prioritization of the prosecution of illegal mining and other environmental crimes, due to their impact on State assets, the integrity of ecosystems, and the well-being of the population. The implementation of the specialized prosecutor’s office in Hualgayoc will strengthen the prosecution of illegal mining and reorganize the jurisdiction of the prosecutor’s offices involved in criminal and family matters, ensuring efficient and continuous coverage of the prosecutorial service.

Coordination and Compliance

The resolution stipulates that the Presidency of the Board of Superior Prosecutors of the Judicial District of Cajamarca and the National Coordination of Specialized Environmental Prosecutor’s Offices shall coordinate and manage the measures for compliance with the provisions. Likewise, it orders the adjustment of designations and assignments of the prosecutorial personnel of the converted office, and notification to the National Board of Justice, the National Control Authority of the Public Ministry, and the Presidency of the Superior Court of Justice of the Judicial District of Cajamarca.

The creation of this specialized prosecutor’s office in Hualgayoc represents a direct reinforcement of the State’s capacity to investigate and sanction environmental crimes in one of the most active mining areas of northern Peru, bringing justice closer to the affected communities and prioritizing the fight against illegal mining in the region.

Source: Official Gazette El Peruano, Wednesday, September 9, 2026, Legal Norms section, pp. 115-117 (official reference: Resolution No. 2758-2026-MP-FN).