Peru's Constitutional Court frees former president Ollanta Humala after overturning money-laundering verdict

Peruvian ex-president Ollanta Humala was freed from a high-security detention facility on Friday evening after the Constitutional Court nullified his 15-year conviction for money laundering linked to Odebrecht (now Novonor) contributions to his 2011 campaign. The court concluded that the alleged contributions did not meet the legal definition of money laundering when they occurred, a rationale also applied to the case of Keiko Fujimori last year.

Humala, who described the charges as a persecution of his administration and ideology, thanked supporters at the prison gates and warned of state “hostage-taking.” His spouse, Nadine Heredia, who also faced sentencing in the same scandal, is residing in Brazil after receiving asylum from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. No prosecutor responded to inquiries about the ruling. The overturning of Humala's conviction is part of a broader unraveling of Peru's Odebrecht corruption investigations that have implicated multiple high-level politicians.