Peru’s Former President and First Lady handed 15-year prison sentences

Peru’s former president, Ollanta Humala, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of money laundering.

A court in Lima ruled that Humala received illicit campaign funds from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht for his presidential bids in 2006 and 2011.

His wife, Nadine Heredia, who co-founded the Nationalist Party alongside him, was also convicted of money laundering and handed a 15-year sentence.

According to Peru’s foreign ministry, Heredia has been granted asylum by Brazil and will be allowed safe passage to travel there with her son.

Prosecutors had initially sought a 20-year prison term for Humala and 26 and a half years for Heredia.

Following a trial that spanned over three years, the court finally delivered its highly anticipated verdict on Tuesday.

Humala, 62, was present in court for the ruling, while Heredia received the verdict through a video call.

Both had consistently denied the allegations throughout the proceedings.

Humala, a former army officer who took part in the fight against the Maoist Shining Path insurgency, gained national attention in 2000 after leading a brief military uprising against then-President Alberto Fujimori.

He launched a presidential bid in 2006, aligning himself with then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Prosecutors later claimed that Chávez had illegally financed Humala’s campaign.

His opponent, Alan García, capitalized on these ties, cautioning voters against "turning Peru into another Venezuela" due to Humala's association with Chávez.

In 2011, Humala made another bid for the presidency, this time presenting himself as a more moderate candidate.

He distanced himself from Hugo Chávez's socialist agenda, instead pledging to follow the policies of Brazil’s then-president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The shift in tone worked in his favor, leading to a victory over right-wing contender Keiko Fujimori.

However, his presidency soon faced turbulence.

Violent social unrest early in his term eroded public support, and he eventually lost backing from key members of Congress, leaving his administration politically vulnerable.

Legal troubles emerged shortly after he left office in 2016.

That same year, Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht admitted to distributing hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes across Latin America to secure government contracts.

Prosecutors claimed that Humala and his wife had accepted millions in illicit funds from Odebrecht.

In 2017, a judge ordered the couple into pre-trial detention.

Though they were released after a year, investigations persisted, eventually leading to the court's ruling and sentencing announced today.