LIMA – Former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was taken from prison to a hospital on Thursday, three days after he began a hunger strike in protest of his ongoing rebellion trial.

The court hearing his trial reported that Castillo, 55, was transferred because of a “health problem” and to rule out a “fluid-electrolyte disorder and mild dehydration.”

The prosecution is seeking 34 years in prison for the former president.

Castillo, who has been detained since Dec. 7, 2022, after a televised speech in which he declared the dissolution of Congress and his intent to rule by decree, has described his trial as “politicized” and a “pantomime.” He has refused legal counsel provided by the judicial system. Congress removed him from office that same day.

During the opening of the trial last week, he denied committing rebellion, saying that all he “did was convey the people’s desire through a political speech.”

After Castillo was removed from office, then Vice President Dina Boluarte assumed office. Three months of protests followed the presidential crisis followed in the South American country. Dozens of people died in the demonstrations.

Castillo was a rural school teacher with no political experience when he won Peru’s 2021 election. In addition to the current trial, he faces a criminal investigation over alleged corruption during his time in office.