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LIMA (Reuters) – A judge on Wednesday ordered Peruvian opposition leader Keiko Fujimori to return to jail pending trial for using his conservative party to launder money for the government. Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.
Opposition leader Keiko Fujimori is escorted by police officers after the judge ordered him to return to prison pending trial for allegations relating to the use of its conservative party to launder money for the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in Lima, Peru, on October 31, 2018. Courtesy of the Courthouse / Handout via REUTERS
The daughter of a former president, Alberto Fujimori, and a presidential candidate who has been beaten twice, Keiko Fujimori has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and called the prosecution's efforts to imprison him for "persecution" policy".
Fujimori, 43, spent a week in police custody earlier this month before being released on appeal.
However, Judge Richard Concepcion of the National Criminal Court said on Wednesday that Fujimori and his collaborators had sought to obstruct the Odebrecht investigation and had responded to prosecutors' request for a prison sentence of up to to three years to work freely.
"Pre-trial detention", or pretrial detention, is common in Peru, although some critics say that it is used excessively.
Fujimori's lawyer told the court that she would appeal.
Dressed in black with her hair in a ponytail, Fujimori hugged her husband and seemed to hold back tears.
"We hope that this arbitrary and disproportionate decision can be corrected," said Ursula Letona, a legislator of Fujimori's Popular Force party, on ATV + television.
Clashes between dozens of Fujimori supporters, detractors and police burst outside the court after the announcement of the decision, according to footage from Canal N TV.
Fujimori's legal troubles paralyzed its once-powerful party, putting an end to the political turmoil that has raged since the 2016 elections over the world's second largest copper producer and one of Latin America's most stable economies. .
Popular Force used the majority of Congress won in 2016 to overthrow former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in March, and had recently put pressure on his successor, President Martin Vizcarra.
However, while the prosecution has detailed its evidence against Fujimori during a highly followed hearing, Popular Force called for an end to the "political war." The main leaders of the party – with the exception of Fujimori – have resigned, internal divisions broke out publicly The legislator of the Popular Force admitted that he was an informant for prosecutors.
Vizcarra ignored public calls from Popular Force representatives for a private meeting with him to discuss legislation.
Prosecutors accused Fujimori and his aides of having laundered $ 1.2 million for the benefit of Odebrecht, who admitted to corrupting politicians from all over Latin America.
After Brazil, Peru is the country where the Odebrecht scandal was the most upsetting, fueling the kind of anger elicited by the political elites that helped propel former army captain Jair Bolsonaro to the Brazilian presidency.
Fujimori denies ever taking money from Odebrecht.
Three years in jail would exclude Fujimori from running for president in 2021 – although she would have the right to run a prison campaign if she still had no conviction.
But Fujimori could be released on appeal before that date.
In early October, a separate court overturned a pardon that had freed Alberto Fujimori from prison for crimes against human rights during his 1990-2000 government. He has been hospitalized since the judgment.
In April, the Constitutional Court of Peru also released former President Ollanta Humala in the middle of the 18 months he had been sentenced to prison before trial, considering that he had breached procedural guarantees.
Report by Mitra Taj and Marco Aquino; edited by Peter Cooney and G Crosse
