Former Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after a court found him guilty of taking bribes years before he took office, Reuters reported. This makes him the latest former leader in the country to be convicted of corruption, cited by BTA.
According to the verdict, Vizcarra accepted bribes worth 676,000 US dollars from construction companies in exchange for public contracts while he was governor of the southern Moquegua region from 2011 to 2014.
During the trial, which began in October, Vizcarra denied the charges, saying he was the victim of political persecution. He came to power in 2018, following the resignation of his predecessor, but was ousted by Congress two years later amid a corruption investigation.
His older brother, Mario Vizcarra, plans to run in the April 2026 presidential election for the Peru First party, with the former president as a key advisor.
In the 2021 congressional elections, Martín Vizcarra won the most votes, but Congress later banned him from holding public office for 10 years due to the dissolution of the legislature in 2019.
Peru is in a political crisis, with six presidents having been removed from office through impeachment or resignation since 2018, often in the wake of corruption scandals.
In addition to Vizcarra, three other former presidents are in prison: Alejandro Toledo and Ollanta Humala are serving sentences for corruption, and Pedro Castillo is being held on charges of attempted coup.