Ethics

Peru: Courts Order Release of a Former President, Hand Second Sentence to Another

SEP 4 2025·Updated APR 9

Story

Above: Peruvian flag waves in Lima on July 26, 2019. Image credit: Buda Mendes/Getty Images

The Facts

An appeals court in Peru issued an order on Wednesday for the release of former President Martín Vizcarra from the five-month pretrial detention he was placed last month, ruling that he is not a flight risk due to family and work ties.
Bloomberg.com
France 24
Peru's president from 2018 to 2020, Vizcarra is accused of accepting 2.3 million Peruvian soles, around $640,000, in bribes for public works contracts more than a decade ago while serving as governor of the southern region of Moquegua.
Bloomberg.com
France 24
Meanwhile, a criminal court sentenced former President Alejandro Toledo to more than 13 years in prison for aggravated money laundering in connection with bribes from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht in the Interoceanica Highway case.
Andina
This is the second time that Toledo has been sentenced to prison over corruption claims, following a sentence of 20 years and six months handed down to him in October last year. Under the country's law, he will serve the two sentences concurrently.
France 24
Reuters
A Stanford-educated economist, Toledo served as Peruvian president from 2001 to 2006. He was first arrested at his home in California in 2019, released to house arrest in 2020 and extradited to Peru in 2023.
The Associated Press
Reuters
Peru now has a trio of former presidents — Toledo, Ollanta Humala and Pedro Castillo — in prison, all of them being held at Barbadillo. Another former president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, is currently on trial.
Andina
Reuters

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

The relentless prosecution of former presidents in Peru is by no means the way to address systemic corruption, especially as it undermines genuine anticorruption efforts. Given that the justice system has been weaponized, current leaders have perverse incentives to cling to power undemocratically as their sole option to avoid prosecution.

The Global Anticorruption Blog

Narrative B

Holding former presidents accountable through prosecution demonstrates that no one is above the law, so it's positive for democracy that this has become common in Latin America — and Peru is at the forefront of this trend. Democratic health depends on conducting such trials properly, as impunity only encourages abuse by current and future leaders.

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