Key facts
- Peru's Constitutional Court overturned a 15-year jail sentence for former President Ollanta Humala.
- The court ruled that campaign contributions received by Humala did not constitute money laundering.
- Humala was convicted in 2025 of accepting illegal funds from Venezuelan and Brazilian sources for his campaigns.
- His wife, Nadine Heredia, also convicted of money laundering, received safe passage to Brazil.
- Humala was released from prison in Lima.
Peru's Constitutional Court has overturned a 15-year jail sentence imposed on former President Ollanta Humala for corruption charges. Humala, who served as president from 2011 to 2016, was convicted in 2025 of accepting illegal campaign funds from the Venezuelan government and the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. His legal team had appealed the verdict, and the Constitutional Court has now declared the entire criminal proceedings against him null and void.
Humala's lawyer, Julio Espinoza Goyena, stated on social media that the court ruled the electoral campaign contributions his client received did not constitute money laundering. He called for the immediate dismissal of the proceedings and Humala's release. Humala was released from Barbadillo Prison in Lima.
During their trial, Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, were accused of receiving $3 million in illegal contributions from Odebrecht and $200,000 from Hugo Chávez to finance his 2011 and 2006 presidential campaigns, respectively. Heredia was also found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to 15 years, but she was granted safe passage to Brazil after seeking asylum. The couple had consistently maintained they were victims of political persecution.
Humala's legal troubles began after his term ended in 2016, following Odebrecht's admission of widespread bribery in Latin America. The company admitted to paying officials and political parties hundreds of millions of dollars to secure business contracts. Other former Peruvian presidents, Alan García and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, also faced allegations related to Odebrecht payments, with García dying by suicide in 2019 as he awaited arrest, and Kuczynski facing impeachment proceedings.