Peru leader Martín Vizcarra ordered into pre-trial detention

Former Peruvian president Martín Vizcarra has been ordered into pre-trial detention over allegations he accepted bribes while serving as governor more than a decade ago.

At a court hearing on August 13, Judge Jorge Chávez ruled that Vizcarra be held for five months while the case proceeds, making him the fifth former Peruvian leader to face imprisonment in recent years, Caliber.Az reports, referencing foreign media.

Prosecutors accuse Vizcarra of taking the equivalent of $640,000 from construction companies in exchange for awarding public works contracts in the Moquegua region between 2011 and 2014.

The former president is expected to be sent to a special police facility in Lima built to hold ex-heads of state. The prison currently houses former presidents Alejandro Toledo, Ollanta Humala and Pedro Castillo. Its first inmate was Alberto Fujimori, sentenced in 2009 to 25 years for human rights abuses. Fujimori was pardoned in late 2023, prompting nationwide protests, and died the following year from cancer.

Vizcarra, who has denied wrongdoing and claims to be the target of political persecution, rose to the presidency in 2018 after his predecessor’s resignation but was removed by Congress in 2020 when investigations into the bribery allegations began.

In June, another judge rejected a request to detain him, but prosecutors appealed, citing him as a flight risk. Vizcarra had been planning to run in the 2026 presidential election.

His lawyer has announced plans to appeal the detention order. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of up to 15 years in prison if he is convicted. The case comes amid ongoing political instability in Peru, which has cycled through six presidents since 2018 due to corruption scandals, resignations and congressional removals.

By Tamilla Hasanova