Ex‑Peruvian President Ollanta Humala Liberated After 15‑Year Sentence Overturned

Sun Sep 06 2026 01:57:51 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Peru’s constitutional court declares the 2025 corruption conviction of former president Ollanta Humala null and void, resulting in his release from Barbadillo Prison.

Peru’s constitutional court has overturned the 15‑year jail term imposed on former president Ollanta Humala for corruption, freeing him from Barbadillo Prison in Lima. Humala was convicted in 2025 of accepting illegal money from the Venezuelan government and the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht for his 2006 and 2011 election campaigns. His wife, Nadine Heredia, was also convicted of money laundering but later received safe passage to Brazil. The ruling revokes all criminal proceedings against Humala and marks the second major corruption case involving an ex‑Peruvian president linked to Odebrecht, following the convictions of Alejandro Toledo and the imprisonment of Alan García. The case highlights widespread attempts by the Odebrecht cartel to bribe Latin American political leaders.

Ollanta Humala Released After Court Overturns 15‑Year Sentence

On Friday night, former Peruvian President Ollanta Humala walked out of Barbadillo Prison in Lima, greeted by a crowd of supporters, after the Peruvian Constitutional Court declared his 2025 corruption conviction null and void. The court ruled that the legal proceedings against the former chief of state were void, effectively restoring his freedom and annulling the 15‑year jail term that had been imposed for allegedly receiving illicit funds from Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and the Brazilian company Odebrecht.

Humala’s lawyer, Julio Espinoza Goyena, posted on social media that the court’s decision removes the “money laundering” label on the campaign contributions he reportedly received, and called for the definitive dismissal of the case. In the same announcement, he stressed that the criminal case should be closed, making the former president a “free” person again.

The ruling comes after a series of high‑profile prosecutions linking Peru’s political elite to Odebrecht. Former president Alejandro Toledo received more than 20 years in prison for accepting $35 million in bribes from the same firm. Another ex‑president, Alan García, declared himself dead in 2019 to avoid arrest over Odebrecht‑related allegations. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has faced impeachment proceedings following revelations of Odebrecht payments during his earlier government role.

Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, were also convicted of money laundering for the alleged funneling of $3 million from Odebrecht and $200,000 from Chávez to finance his 2006 and 2011 presidential campaigns. Despite their convictions, Heredia was granted safe passage to Brazil after seeking asylum in the Brazilian embassy.

The ex‑president has long maintained that the accusations are politically motivated. He told reporters outside the prison, “We have been victims of political and judicial persecution.” The Constitutional Court’s decision is set to affect the future of many litigants involved in the Odebrecht scandal, and it underscores the complexity of corruption investigations in Latin America.

Sources indicate that the reversal of Humala’s conviction will prompt a review of all related legal documents. The court’s ruling also signals a broader push for judicial reform in Peru as authorities work to clean up corruption allegations that have plagued the nation’s political landscape for decades.