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CNN
03-05-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Peru's former first lady flees to Brazil for asylum after she and ex-President Humala sentenced to prison
Peru's former First Lady Nadine Heredia has fled to Brazil, where she has been granted diplomatic asylum after a court in her home country sentenced her and her husband, former President Ollanta Humala, to 15 years in prison on money laundering charges. She landed in the capital Brasilia with her son on Wednesday, her lawyer Julio Espinoza told CNN. According to the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, she had requested asylum at the Brazilian Embassy in Lima on Tuesday morning. Brazil granted asylum to her and her son and the Peruvian government provided guarantees for their safe passage, it said. Heredia's lawyer said she had applied for asylum due to an unspecified family reason. 'A family and personal decision happened about two to three hours before the sentencing,' he said, adding that he only found out about her asylum request through the media. Her arrival in Brazil comes just a day after she and her husband were sentenced in a trial relating to alleged illicit contributions to Humala's election campaigns in 2006 and 2011. Prosecutors had alleged that Humala's Nationalist Party received illicit contributions from the Venezuelan government and the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht to finance his campaigns. Humala and his wife had denied any wrongdoing. Humala was in attendance as a judge read out the verdict on Tuesday, three years after the trial began. Heredia did not attend. Moments after the ruling was announced, the judiciary ordered Humala to start serving his sentence immediately and be sent to prison. His lawyer, Wilfredo Pedraza, criticized the decision as unjustified and told CNN they would appeal. 'The panel has said that the illegality of the crimes can be verified along the way – that is inadmissible. Here, in oral trial and in sentencing, affirmations must be made, no longer presumptions,' he argued. The former first lady's lawyer said Wednesday that if the case is appealed, she may attend the hearings virtually from Brazil. Prosecutors were seeking 20 years in prison for the former president and 26 years for the former first lady.
BBC News
16-04-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Peru ex-president and first lady chop 15-year jail term
Peru former president Ollanta Humala, dey guilty of money laundering and dem don sentence am go prison for 15 years. Na court for di capital, Lima tok say e collect illegal money from di Venzulan president dat time, Hugo Chávez and from di Brazillian construction company Odebrecht to pay for im election campaigns for 2006 and 2011. Humala lawyer tok say e go appeal against di conviction. Im wife Nadine Heredia bin also dey found guilty of money laundering and dey sentenced to 15 years for jail. But dem don grant her safe passage to enta Brazil afta she seek asylum for di Brazilian embassy. Humala lawyer say e go appeal against di conviction. But unlike her husband, Heredia bin no dey court wen Judge Nayko Coronado bin pass sentence. She bin don already enta di Brazillian embassy togeda wit dia son bifor dem fit even execute arrest warrant. Brazil bin grant am asylum and di Peruvian goment say dem go honour di 1954 assylum convention to give Heredia and her son safe passage. Meanwhile, dem don carry di former president, 62 go Narbadillo prison wia dem don alreadi keep two former leaders, Alejandro Toledo and Pedro Castillo. Humala na di first of four Peruvial presidents wey dem go investigate in connection wit di Odebrcht kasala. Toledo wey bin hold office from 2001 to 2006 bin dey sentenced last year to ova 20 years for prison say im collect $35m (£26m) bribes from di company. Alan Garcia, wey be di president from 1985 to 1990 and 2006 to 2011 bin kill imself for 2019 as e bin dey face arrest on top accuse say Odebrecht bribe am. E bin deny di accuse. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski wey bin dey office from 2016 to 2018 bin face impeachment proceedings afta e comot say Odebrecht bin pay am millions of dollars for im previous goment role. Di investigation still dey go on. Kuczynski don maintain say di payment no dey illegal. Prosecutors tok say Humala and im wife, wey e follow collabo wit to form di Nationalist Party, bin collect $3m illegal contributions from di company wey dem use finance im 2011 presidential campaign. Dem also dey accused say dem collect $200,000 from Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez to run di 2006 campaign. Di couple don tanda tok say dem be victims of political persecution. Humala lawyer, Wilfredi Pedraza also tok say dia 15-year sentence dey too much. Prosecution bin ask for 20 years for di former president and 25 and half years for Heredia. Who be Ollanta Humala? Humala na former army officer wey fight against di Maoist Shining Path rebels. E first bicom popular nationally for 2000 wen e bin lead one short milisary rebellion against di then president Alberto Fujimori. For 2006, e bin run for president on platform wey bin dey inspired by di socialist revolution of Chávez from Venezuela. Alan García, wey be Humala election rivals bin warn voters say make dem "no allow Peru turn anoda Venezuela" and win di presidency. For 2011, Humala come run more moderate platform wey take from di policies of di then Brazil president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and e use am beat im right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori wey be di eldest daughter of Alberto Fujimori. Social kasala sharparly spoil im popularity, and e lose di support of many members of Congress. Im legal kasla start shortly afta im finish im term for 2016 wen Odebrecht admit say dem bribe Latin goment officials and political parties wit hundreds of millions of dollars so dem go fit win business. Prosecutors accuse Humala and im wife say dem collect millions from Odebrecht togeda wit di illegal funding from Chávez to take fund di 2006 presidential campaign. One year later, judge bin order make di couple dey placed for pre-trial detention. Dem release dem afta a year but investigations into dia mata still kontinu wey lead to today judgement.
Al Jazeera
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Peru jails ex-president Humala for 15 years over money laundering
A court in Peru has sentenced former President Ollanta Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, to 15 years in prison for laundering $3m received from Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht and $200,000 from the government of then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Humala, 62, was taken into custody after the verdict was delivered on Tuesday and later jailed at a police station, but his 48-year-old wife requested asylum at the Brazilian embassy in Lima, according to Peru's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Heredia was granted safe passage to travel to Brazil with her youngest son, the ministry said. During his trial, which lasted three years following an investigation which kicked off in 2016, Humala decried the charges as political persecution. His lawyers plan to appeal Tuesday's verdict. Prosecutors alleged Humala received the illicit funds in his 2011 campaign against Keiko Fujimori, the other former president's daughter, through Humala's Nationalist Party. Humala, a retired military officer who led the Andean nation from 2011 to 2016, will likely carry out his sentence on a police base built specially to house Peru's jailed leaders. Former presidents Alejandro Toledo and Pedro Castillo are currently jailed at the site, while the late Alberto Fujimori stayed there for 16 months until his release in 2023. Toledo, in power from 2001 to 2006, was sentenced last year to more than 20 years in prison for accepting $35m in bribes in exchange for government contracts. Former President Pedro Castillo is also being detained as he faces charges of 'rebellion' after a failed attempt to dissolve Congress in 2022. In 2019, former President Alan Garcia killed himself by gunshot wound as police descended on his home to arrest him for alleged corruption related to Odebrecht. In 2016, Odebrecht agreed to pay $3.5bn in penalties in Brazil, the United States and Switzerland arising out of payments of more than $788m in bribes to foreign leaders and government officials in order to win infrastructure projects.
Saudi Gazette
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Peru's ex-president and first lady sentenced to 15 years jail
LIMA — Peru's former president, Ollanta Humala, has been found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to 15 years in prison. A court in the capital, Lima, said that Humala had accepted illegal funds from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht to bankroll his election campaigns in 2006 and 2011. His wife, Nadine Heredia, who co-founded the Nationalist Party with Humala, has also been found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to 15 years. Prosecutors had asked that Humala be sentenced to 20 years in jail and Heredia to 26 and a half years. After a trial lasting more than three years, the court gave its long-awaited verdict on Tuesday. Humala attended the verdict in person while his wife heard it via video 62-year-old former president and his wife had denied any a former army officer who fought against the Maoist Shining Path rebels, first came to national prominence in 2000 when he led a short-lived military rebellion against then-President Alberto 2006, he ran for president. He allied himself with the Venezuelan president at the time, Hugo Chávez, and prosecutors alleged that Humala had accepted illegal funding from Chávez to finance his rival for the presidency, Alan García, used Humala's close ties to Chávez as a way to attack him, warning voters "not to let Peru turn into another Venezuela".In 2011, Humala ran for the presidency again, this time on a more moderate said that rather than emulating Chávez's socialist revolution in Venezuela, he would model his policies on those of the Brazilian president at the time, Luiz Inácio Lula da approach proved successful and he defeated his right-wing rival, Keiko violent social conflicts early on his presidency quickly dented his also lost the support of many members of Congress, further weakening his legal troubles started shortly after his term had finished in year, the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht confessed to paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to government officials and political parties across Latin America, to win business accused Humala and his wife of receiving millions of dollars from Odebrecht.A year later, a judge ordered that the couple be placed in pre-trial were released after a year but the investigation into their links with Odebrecht continued, culminating in today's verdict. — BBC
Express Tribune
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Peru jails former president Humala Ollanta and wife for 15 years
Listen to article Peru's former president Ollanta Humala was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Tuesday after being found guilty of accepting illicit campaign funding from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. His wife, Nadine Heredia, received an identical sentence. Shortly after the ruling, Peru's foreign ministry confirmed she had entered the Brazilian embassy in Lima and was granted diplomatic asylum, citing health concerns. She will be allowed safe passage to travel to Brazil with her youngest son. Ollanta Humala, who served from 2011 to 2016, becomes the latest in a string of former Peruvian leaders to be imprisoned for corruption-related charges. The court found that Ollanta Humala and Nadine Heredia received illegal contributions during his presidential bids in 2006 and 2011. The funds allegedly came from Odebrecht – now known as Novonor – which has admitted to decades-long bribery schemes throughout Latin America. Prosecutors had sought a 20-year sentence for Ollanta Humala and 26 years for Nadine Heredia. Both were accused of funnelling millions through the Nationalist Party to fund election campaigns. They denied the charges and plan to appeal after the full ruling is issued on 29 April. The couple's legal troubles began in 2016, shortly after Ollanta Humala left office. A year later, they were detained during a preliminary investigation. While released in 2018, the judicial probe continued, culminating in the verdict this week. Nadine Heredia's legal team noted she had been refused prior requests to leave Peru for cancer treatment. Brazilian officials have not disclosed further details about the asylum conditions. Ollanta Humala will serve his sentence at a police base that has housed other former Peruvian presidents. Alejandro Toledo and Pedro Castillo are currently imprisoned there, while Alberto Fujimori was released in 2023. The Lava Jato investigation has ensnared leaders across the region. In 2019, ex-president Alan García died by suicide as police attempted to arrest him over alleged Odebrecht-related bribery. Odebrecht's executives have testified that nearly every major presidential campaign in Peru over a 30-year span received funding from the company.
