Peru's former president Ollanta Humala walked free from a Lima prison on Friday evening after the country's constitutional court declared his entire criminal proceedings null and void, overturning a 15-year sentence handed to him in 2025 for money laundering linked to the sprawling Odebrecht corruption scandal. Humala, 64, a former army officer who governed Peru from 2011 to 2016, had been convicted of accepting illegal campaign contributions — approximately $3 million from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht to finance his 2011 presidential run, and around $200,000 from Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez to fund his 2006 campaign. He left Barbadillo Prison, a small facility on a police base in the Peruvian capital, by vehicle at around 7:40 p.m. local time, greeted by a crowd of supporters.

The constitutional court's ruling, dated 15 July and published Thursday, upheld a habeas corpus petition filed in January by Humala's legal team, finding that the proceedings had violated the principles of legality and specificity in relation to his right to personal liberty. The court concluded that the campaign contributions in question did not constitute money laundering under Peruvian law. A criminal court subsequently ordered his release. Peru's Foreign Minister Carlos Espa, a member of the current government, welcomed the ruling as