Peru's ex-President Ollanta Humala released after conviction overturned

Former Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has been released from prison following a decision by the country's Constitutional Court to annul his 15-year sentence for money laundering. Humala had been held in a special prison facility that also houses other former Peruvian presidents.

He was convicted in April 2025, found guilty of receiving illicit funds from the Brazilian construction group Odebrecht, now known as Novonor, to finance his 2011 presidential campaign. Upon his release, Humala asserted that his prosecution was politically motivated, aimed at removing him and his political ideology.

"They had to remove us because of our governance and our political ideology. I was forced to seek asylum for my wife and take my children out of the country," he told reporters. The Peruvian Public Prosecutor's Office has not commented on his release.

Humala's wife, Nadine Heredia, was also convicted in the same case. However, she is not in Peru, having been granted political asylum in Brazil by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration. The case against Humala is part of a broader corruption scandal that has impacted Latin America, leading to prosecutions of politicians and officials across the region.

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They had to remove us because of our governance and our political ideology. I was forced to seek asylum for my wife and take my children out of the country.