Keiko Fujimori’s appeal denied as three-year preventive prison sentence is upheld

Keiko Fujimori’s appeal of charges that she accepted bribes from Odebrecht operatives in 2011 has been shot down, according to a memo from Peru’s Judicial Branch.

The Popular Force party leader will now continue her three-year preventive prison sentence as the investigation continues into alleged corruption during failed Fujimori’s presidential campaign. The appeal was shot down for Fujimori and Jaime Yoshiyama, the former general secretary of Popular Force.

“The Second National Appellate Court unanimously rules that the appeal from Keiko Fujimori and Jaime Yoshiyama is unfounded,” read a message on the Judicial Branch’s official social media account.

The court said that there exist two independent risks: one of flight during the pretrial phase and the other being obstruction of probationary activity.

Fujimori is being charged with money laundering, obstruction of justice and criminal organizing. In the initial pretrial ruling, Judge Richard Concepción Carhuancho said a strict sentence was adequate against Fujimori because, he said, the evidence shows she was part of a powerful criminal group.

“There is a de facto criminal organization that was created in parallel with the party,” Concepción said. “They took decisions that were sent to the political committee to be assessed and debated, and then passed to the party legislators’ meetings.”