The Constitutional Court of Peru on Monday ordered the release of opposition leader Keiko Fujimori, who has been detained for more than a year in a corruption case.
"The court has accepted" the appeal filed in favor of Keiko Fujimori by his sister Sachi Fujimori, said Ernesto Blume, the president of the Constitutional Court, the country's highest court. The decision can not be appealed. Keiko Fujimori, 44, has been in pre-trial detention since Oct. 31, 2018 as part of the Odebrecht scandal, named after a Brazilian construction giant, who admitted paying bribes to many Latin American political leaders, including four former Peruvian presidents.
To avoid interference by the opposition leader in the investigation, prosecutor José Domingo Pérez had claimed 36 months of preventive detention for the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000). The duration was then reduced to 18 months by the Supreme Court. Ernesto Blume, however, clarified that the decision of the Constitutional Court did not concern the merits of the case which is still the subject of a judicial investigation.
Keiko Fujimori's party was once again the country's leading political force
"Justice has been handed down, divine justice, God is great," said Keiko Fujimori's husband, the American Vito Villanella, who had started a hunger strike to demand the release of his wife. Keiko Fujimori, leader of the popular Fuerzo party (populist right), is accused of receiving funds from Odebrecht for her 2011 election campaign. Keiko Fujimori's party was once again the country's leading political force in the election campaign. 2016, but it has since stopped losing ground, already marked by the two successive defeats of Keiko Fujimori in the second round of the presidential elections of 2011 and 2016.
Early parliamentary elections were called for 26 January by President Martin Vizcarra following the dissolution of Parliament on 30 September as part of his anti-corruption crusade. In particular, it has ratified by referendum in 2018 a reform that provides that current deputies can not be reelected in the next legislative elections.