Latest news with #ConventiononDiplomaticAsylum
New York Times
16-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Peru's Former First Lady Flees as She and Ex-President Are Sentenced to Prison
A former first lady of Peru fled to the Brazilian Embassy in Lima on Tuesday, seeking asylum as she and her husband were sentenced to prison in a money laundering verdict that makes him the third Peruvian president jailed on corruption charges in the last two decades. The former president sentenced on Tuesday, Ollanta Humala, had been convicted along with his wife, Nadine Heredia, of laundering money from a construction firm at the center of a sprawling Latin American corruption scandal to finance one of his campaigns for president. Both Mr. Humala, a former army commander who was president from 2011 to 2016, and his wife were sentenced to 15 years in prison. They had been accused of receiving almost $3 million in illegal contributions in his 2011 race, mostly from Odebrecht, the Brazilian construction giant linked to bribery cases across Latin America. He was also convicted of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chávez for an unsuccessful 2006 campaign. Mr. Humala and Ms. Heredia have denied wrongdoing. In a sign of Peru's longstanding struggles with corruption and political dysfunction, and the periodic attempts to rein those problems in, Mr. Humala is one of six former presidents to have faced potential jail time over the last two decades — so many that the authorities have turned a former police academy on Lima's outskirts into a small prison for them. On Tuesday, the police escorted Mr. Humala, 62, from the courtroom after his sentence was read out. But his wife did not attend the hearing — in which a judge ordered their immediate imprisonment. Instead she went with their youngest son to the Brazilian Embassy, Peruvian officials said later on Tuesday, adding that Brazil had granted them both asylum under the 1954 Convention on Diplomatic Asylum, an agreement both countries signed. The Peruvian government indicated it would not attempt to fight Brazil's decision, saying in a statement from the foreign ministry that it had given Ms. Heredia, 48, and her son guarantees for their safe transfer out of the country. A lawyer for Mr. Humala denied any wrongdoing by the couple and said he would appeal the sentencing. Several of Mr. Humala's predecessors and successors were also entangled in Odebrecht investigations. Alejandro Toledo, Peru's president from 2001 to 2006, was sentenced last year to 20 years in prison in a case revolving around $35 million in bribes. Alan García, who served terms in the 1980s and 2000s, died by suicide in 2019, just as the authorities arrived at his home to detain him. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, the president after Mr. Humala, spent years under house arrest over the course of an ongoing inquiry. (He has denied wrongdoing.) But two others faced starker charges. Alberto Fujimori, who pulled Peru into authoritarianism with brutal tactics in the 1990s, was jailed for more than a decade after he was convicted of human rights abuses and corruption charges. He was released in 2023, following an intensely controversial presidential pardon, and died last year at 86. And most recently, Pedro Castillo, a former schoolteacher who became Peru's first left-wing president in more than a generation, faces charges of rebellion and abuse of authority for having tried to dissolve Congress and install an emergency government in 2022.
Korea Herald
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Peruvian court sentences former President Humala and wife to 15 years
LIMA, Peru (AP) — A Peruvian court on Tuesday sentenced former President Ollanta Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, to 15 years in prison for laundering funds received from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht to finance his 2006 and 2011 campaigns. The judges of the National Superior Court found that Humala and Heredia received almost $3 million in illegal contributions for these campaigns from Odebrecht and the government of then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013). Humala's wife requested asylum at the Brazilian embassy in Lima, Peru's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday afternoon. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry added that Heredia entered the Brazilian Embassy in the morning and requested asylum under the 1954 Convention on Diplomatic Asylum, to which both Peru and Brazil are signatories. Heredia's brother, Ilan Heredia, was also sentenced to 12 years in prison for money laundering in the same case. Humala came to power in 2011 after defeating right-wing politician Keiko Fujimori in the second round. Nayko Coronado, one of the court's three judges, ordered the convicted individuals to be jailed immediately. The former president, the only one present for the verdict, was surrounded by police and escorted from the courtroom. Dressed in a business suit, tie and glasses, the 62-year-old retired military officer Humala was observed writing and speaking on his cell phone during the session. His wife was not in attendance, with the defense stating she followed the proceedings online due to ill health. The court's decision means both will remain incarcerated until July 28, 2039. The verdict makes Humala the third former Peruvian president imprisoned for corruption in the last two decades. He joins Alejandro Toledo, sentenced in 2024 to 20 years for Odebrecht-related crimes, and Alberto Fujimori, who received multiple convictions for corruption and human rights abuses. The trial began in 2022, and alongside Humala and his 48-year-old wife, the court convicted eight others. Both Humala and Heredia were held in pretrial detention from 2017 to 2018 at the prosecutor's request to prevent their flight. Odebrecht's 2016 admission of widespread bribery across Latin America preceded the initial investigations against Humala, which started in 2015, a year before the company's revelations. Most of the presidents who governed Peru since 2001 have faced legal problems due to their connections with Odebrecht. Toledo is currently imprisoned, while former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is under house arrest. Alan Garcia, who served two non-consecutive terms (1985-1990 and 2006-2011), died by suicide in 2019 as authorities moved to arrest him in connection with Odebrecht bribes. Beyond former presidents, prominent figures like former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori and numerous ex-governors are also under investigation.
