Andina

Peru's TC publishes sentence rejecting habeas corpus of Alejandro Toledo

Photo: EFE

Photo: EFE

16:13 | Lima, Feb. 24.

The Constitutional Court (TC) published the ruling that declared inadmissible the habeas corpus filed by the legal defense of former President Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), who is wanted by Peruvian justice over alleged wrongdoings involving the receipt of bribes.

Said appeal had been filed against the resolution —dated July 16, 2019, and issued by the Fourth Criminal Chamber for Proceedings with Free Prisoners at the Superior Court of Justice of Lima— which declared the petition for habeas corpus inadmissible.

Toledo alleged the violation of his right to due process, effective judicial protection, and the principle of legality.

The Constitutional Court —which is the supreme interpreter of the Constitution— said that no nexus of affectation was observed between the right to due process and his personal freedom. Thus, a protection through the submitted habeas corpus did not proceed.

According to the ruling, the right to due process can be protected as long as the offending act has a negative impact on personal freedom, which is not the case on this occasion.

In this sense, it specifies that the facts and the petition of the claim are not directly related to the constitutionally-protected content of the invoked right.

Toledo

Alejandro Toledo was arrested in July 2019 within the framework of the extradition request made by the Peruvian justice, which is investigating him in the Odebrecht case.

He has spent the last months under house arrest at his home in California, after a judge considered that he is part of the population at risk, adding that his stay in prison would imply a danger to his health due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The former president was charged in Peru with the alleged commission of the crimes of money laundering, collusion, and influence peddling.


A United States judge recently accepted the request of Toledo's defense and postponed the start of the extradition trial until September 2021 —three months after it was initially scheduled to take place.

(END) VVS/CVC/MVB

Published: 2/24/2021