Former Peruvian President Ollanta Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, were released from prison after the country’s Constitutional Court overturned their 15-year prison sentences. The couple had been convicted last year of money laundering for receiving illegal campaign contributions from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, now known as Novonor, and the Venezuelan government during two presidential campaigns.

Humala, 64, was serving his sentence at a special detention facility in eastern Lima that houses several of Peru’s jailed former leaders. The Constitutional Court ruling, dated July 15 and published on August 1, declared the entire criminal proceedings against Humala null and void. The court found that Humala had been convicted for conduct that was not legally defined as money laundering at the time the campaign contributions were received.

Humala had filed a habeas corpus petition, a legal request to examine whether he had been unlawfully imprisoned, which the court declared "well-founded."

The case is linked to a broader controversy involving Odebrecht, which in 2016 agreed to pay $3.5 billion in penalties after admitting to spending $788 million in bribes to foreign leaders and government officials across Latin America to secure infrastructure projects.

Meanwhile, Peru’s political landscape continues to evolve, with Keiko Fujimori recently sworn in as president after a narrow election win and plans to intensify ties with the US.

Sources