Peru judge throws out Keiko Fujimori's money laundering trial

A Peruvian judge on Monday threw out a money laundering trial that began last year involving former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, who was accused of receiving illegal funds from a Brazilian construction company and local firms.

The politician, daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, faced up to 30 years in jail over the charges of leading a criminal organization that received illegal contributions for her 2011 and 2016 electoral campaigns.

Judge Mercedes Caballero said in a hearing that Fujiori, alongside other defendants, were excluded from the trial in compliance with a recent ruling by the country's constitutional court, which had excluded another defendant on the grounds that his right to defense was violated.

Keiko Fujimori, 49, has run three times for the Andean country's presidency. She was last candidate in 2021, when she lost to the leftist Pedro Castillo, who was impeached and imprisoned at the end of 2022 after his attempt to illegally dissolve Congress.

She currently leads the influential right-wing Popular Force party.

Her father Alberto Fujimori died in September last year, nearly a year after he was released from prison where he had served 16 years of a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses during his presidency.