Peru's ex-president has 15-year jail sentence for corruption charges overturned

Peru's constitutional court has overturned a 15-year jail sentence handed to the country's former president after he was found guilty of corruption.Ollanta Humala, who led the country from 2011 to 2016, was convicted in 2025 of accepting illegal funds from the Venezuelan president and Brazilian construction company Odebrecht to fund his election campaigns in 2006 and 2011. The former president had said he would appeal against the verdict, and now Peru's constitutional court has declared the entire criminal proceedings against him null and void. Humala is expected to be released from Barbadillo Prison in the capital Lima, according to local media.After the ruling, Humala's lawyer Julio Espinoza Goyena wrote on social media that the court had decided the contributions his client received on electoral campaigns "do not constitute money laundering".He said: "The Criminal Chamber currently handling the case must order the definitive dismissal of the proceedings and the FREEDOM of former President Ollanta Humala". When Humala was convicted, his wife Nadine Heredia was also found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, she was granted safe passage to Brazil after seeking asylum in the Brazilian embassy.