5/01/2018

*JAILED PERUVIAN EX-PRESIDENT*


RED TAPE delays the release of jailed Peruvian ex-president and wife.

Bureaucratic delays on Friday held up the release from preventive detention of Peruvian ex-president  Ollanta Humala and his wife, one day after the Constitutional Court said they can remain free while they await their corruption trial.

Humala, Peru's president from 2011 to 2016, protested via Twitter. Starting Friday he said he and his wife Nadine Herrera were being ''illegally deprived of our freedom,'' he wrote.

''We should already be with our children,'' he wrote, asking that Thursday's court ruling ''must be complied with immediately, not in four days.''

Humala and his wife will probably remain in custody, until Monday, a lawyer for the couple earlier told AFP.

''This is absurd,'' said attorney Wilfredo Pedraza, noting that the court ruling ''orders immediate freedom'' for both of his clients.

The pair have been in prison since July awaiting trial on charges of money laundering.

They allegedly received  millions of dollars  in illegal campaign donations from Brazilian construction giant  Odebrecht ahead of the 2011 election.

In February 2017, Jorge Barata, Odebrecht's former Peru Chief, told prosecutors he gave Humela  $3 million  in cash at the request of-

Former Brazilian president Luiz inacio Lula da Silva, who was himself jailed for corruption earlier this month. [Agencies]

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