Former president of Peru sentenced to 15 years in prison, his wife asks for asylum

The Peruvian court sentenced former president Ollanta Humala to 15 years in prison for accepting illegal funds for a campaign from a Brazilian construction company. The wife of the politician Nadine Heredia also sentenced to 15 years, after the sentence she entered the Brazilian embassy in Lima to ask for asylum.

Former president Peru Ollanta Humala and his wife were accused of accepting money from the Brazilian construction company Zabrecht, currently known as Novonor, during the election campaign in 2011. Humali's wife Nadine Heredia was also sentenced to 15 years in prison. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that after the sentence, the woman entered the Brazilian embassy in Lima to ask for asylum.

According to Marco Aurelio de Carvalho – one of the lawyers of humali – Nadine Heredia has cancer and previously asked for permission to go to Brazil for treatment, but the application was rejected.

The Reuters agency said that the authorities in Brasilia are negotiating a safe path that would allow Heredia to leave Peru and travel to Brazil.

Former presidents of Peru are serving sentences

Humala, a retired military officer who led the Andean state in 2011-2016, will probably take his judgment in a police base built specifically to keep leading Peruvian politicians.

Former presidents Alejandro Toledo and Pedro Castillo are currently imprisoned in this place, while Alberto Fujimori stayed there until his release in 2023.

Read also: Former president of Peru detained for drunkenness. He spent the night in custody

During the trial, which lasted three years after the investigation, which began in 2016, Humala assessed the allegations as political persecution. Prosecutors accused Humals of received illegal cash as part of his campaign against Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of another former president.

The Reuters agency announced that Humala will go to prison immediately, even if it appealed against the sentence. It is expected that the court will continue to read the full sentence in the next few days.

Humala's lawyer Wilfredo Pedraza assessed that the sentence was too severe and indicated that prosecutors did not prove the illegal origin of the funds. He announced that the defense plans to appeal after the final decision was issued on April 29.

Peru presidents involved in the corruption case “Lava Jato”

The former construction tycoon Zaprecht admitted that he was giving bribes to governments throughout Latin America to help build his huge empire. In 2020, the company changed its name to Novonor and is currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings.

Humala is the second former president of Peru, who was sent to prison and the fourth, who was involved in a wide -ranged corruption case known as “Lava Jata”.

In 2019, former President Alan Garcia committed suicide when the police entered his home to arrest him in connection with corruption allegations.

A year earlier, Pedro Pablo Kuszynski was forced to subside after only two years of office. Meanwhile, Toledo was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for accepting $ 35 million bribes in exchange for contacts for public works.

Former Directors of the Zabrecht company said in a Peruvian court that the company financed almost all presidential candidates in the country for nearly 30 years.