Peru Court Orders Keiko Fujimori to Return to Prison

A Peruvian judge ordered Tuesday that Popular Force opposition leader Keiko Fujimori to return to prison for a further 15 months pre-trial detention as part of an open investigation into the Odebrecht corruption scandal.

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Justice Victor Zuñiga accepted the request from Attorney General Jose Domingo Perez on the grounds that the measure is “appropriate, necessary and proportionate” due to likely flight risk from Fujimori. 

The defense lawyer, Giuliana Loza, announced they will appeal the ruling. 

Fujimori had already served 13 months in jail until Nov. 25, 2019, when the Constitutional Court of Peru granted her a “habeas corpus” appeal effectively nulling the preventive prison.

Keiko was taken into custody in Oct. 2018 for allegedly attempting to buy witnesses in the money laundering investigation against her in the sprawling Odebrecht corruption case in Peru. She was initially being investigated for accepting around US$1.2 million in bribes from the Brazilian construction company for her 2011 presidential campaign.

The daughter of former authoritarian Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) and her political advisor both deny that state prosecutors have any proof against them even though former Odebrecht CEO Marcelo Odebrecht and the company’s director in Peru, Jorge Barata already confessed to making illicit campaign donations to Peruvian prosecutors in 2018.

According to special prosecutors Perez and Rafael Vela, in charge of the case against Fujimori and other cases within the sprawling Odebrecht scandal, Keiko leads "a criminal organization" within her party.