Peru’s constitutional court has annulled the 15-year corruption sentence imposed on former president Ollanta Humala, declaring the criminal proceedings against him invalid. The decision is significant because it is likely to secure his release and reverses a high-profile conviction linked to the wider Odebrecht bribery scandal that has implicated several Peruvian leaders.

Humala, president from 2011 to 2016, and his wife Nadine Heredia were convicted in 2025 of money laundering over alleged campaign funding, including $3m from Odebrecht for the 2011 election and $200,000 allegedly supplied by Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez in 2006. His lawyer said electoral campaign contributions did not constitute money laundering; Heredia, who also received a 15-year sentence, had already been allowed to travel to Brazil after seeking asylum. Humala was the first of four former Peruvian presidents investigated in connection with Odebrecht, which admitted paying bribes across Latin America to win contracts.