Peru’s ex-president Martin Vizcarra ordered into pre-trial detention over bribery case

Peru just added another former president to its long list of jailed leaders. On Wednesday, Judge Jorge Chavez ruled that ex-president Martin Vizcarra must spend the next five months in pre-trial detention while facing bribery charges.

Vizcarra, who once governed the Moquegua region, is accused of taking bribes more than a decade ago. Prosecutors argued he’s a flight risk, and the court agreed. Vizcarra insists the case is political persecution, saying he had even set his sights on running for the presidency again in 2026.

This marks the fifth former president behind bars in Peru, a country where politics has been rocked by endless scandals and instability. Since 2018, Peru has cycled through six different presidents.

Vizcarra was previously removed from office in 2020 after Congress accused him of “moral incapacity,” a vague charge critics say is often weaponised for political ends.

If he appeals fails, Vizcarra is likely to join former leaders Alejandro Toledo, Ollanta Humala and Pedro Castillo in a special detention facility in Lima built specifically for ex-presidents. That same site once housed Alberto Fujimori, Peru’s former dictator who was sentenced to 25 years for human rights abuses but controversially pardoned in 2023 before dying of cancer a year later.

Meanwhile, current president Dina Boluarte signed into law a controversial amnesty for security officials accused of human rights violations during the fight against the Shining Path insurgency. Rights groups blasted the move as institutionalising impunity.