Julio Torres Aliaga spent four months and 15 days in prison for a non-existent crime after being falsely accused of money laundering in Peru. The former treasurer of the Peruvian Nationalist Party endured 11 years of fiscal and judicial prosecution related to campaign financing for the 2011 presidential election before courts officially archived the case.
An appeals chamber, known in the Peruvian judicial system as the Sala de Apelaciones, issued a resolution closing the aggravated money laundering case against Torres. The court determined that trial judges had failed to justify any flight risk when they ordered his immediate arrest and imprisonment in April 2025.
Torres was sentenced on April 15, 2025, by the Third National Senior Penal Court, known locally as the Tercer Juzgado Penal Nacional Colegiado. The trial judges handed Torres an eight-year prison sentence as a co-author of aggravated money laundering, modifying his role days later to an accomplice while maintaining the full eight-year term.
His defense attorney, Edinsón Huamán, pointed out that prosecutors had only accused Torres of acting as an accomplice, which under Peruvian law requires a lighter penalty than that imposed on the principal perpetrator. Despite this, Torres received double the prison sentence of the alleged primary author, Ilan Heredia, who was sentenced to four years in prison for alleged campaign acts in 2011.
The Peruvian Nationalist Party is a political party founded by former Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, who served as head of state from 2011 to 2016. Humala and his wife, former First Lady Nadine Heredia, each received five-year prison sentences in connection with campaign contribution investigations spanning both the 2006 and 2011 elections, though Torres had no involvement in the 2006 campaign.
Years of financial hardship and employment hurdles
The legal case against Torres began in 2015 when prosecutor Germán Juárez Atoche of the Special Lava Jato Task Force formalised an investigation against him. Prosecutors alleged that Torres used his position as party treasurer to help Ilan Heredia obstruct the identification of funds used in the 2011 campaign by legitimising false contributions.
The Special Lava Jato Task Force is a specialised group of Peruvian prosecutors created to investigate high-level political corruption, bribery, and illegal campaign financing across multiple political parties in Peru. Under Peruvian law, serving as a treasurer for a registered political party is not a crime, but prosecutors charged Torres as part of an alleged criminal organisation.
Throughout the 11-year judicial process, prosecutors never requested arrest orders, house arrest, or travel bans against Torres. He remained under conditional release, known as comparecencia, with an obligation to report his activities monthly, and he attended every scheduled court hearing prior to his sudden sentencing.
The prolonged prosecution created severe economic hardship for Torres, who was responsible for supporting his minor daughter, a son with special needs, and his elderly mother. Torres said he was unable to secure employment even as a security guard, explaining that short-term work came only through personal favors lasting one or two months before employers declined to renew contracts after searching his name online or requesting criminal background certificates.
Banking services were also severely restricted for Torres over the 11-year period. He was permitted to conduct transactions only through the state-owned Banco de la Nación, alongside a single restricted account at a private bank opened by his eldest son's university to process a fee reimbursement.
Abrupt arrest and prison conditions
His situation showed signs of improvement in December 2024 when he won a public competition to work as an administrative specialist at the Ombudsman's Office, known as the Defensoría del Pueblo. His employment contract was renewed monthly until April 1, 2025, when officials extended it through December 2025.
The Ombudsman's Office is an independent constitutional institution in Peru tasked with protecting the fundamental rights of citizens and supervising state administration. Just 14 days after his contract extension, judges at the Third National Senior Penal Court ordered his immediate imprisonment during a hearing on April 15, 2025.
Torres recalled that his lunch box and personal belongings were left behind at his desk at the Ombudsman's Office. He had requested a few hours of permission from work to attend the judicial hearing, expecting to return to the office for lunch and continue his daily duties.
Inside prison, police officers, staff from the National Penitentiary Institute, and fellow inmates treated him as a wealthy prisoner because of his conviction for money laundering. Torres, who suffers from diabetes, said inmates faced high daily costs for basic necessities including breathing, sleeping, bathing, and food, adding that prison staff treated new arrivals without rights or medical care.
Case archived and legal complaints filed
The Appeals Chamber ordered his release in September 2025 after he served four months and 15 days in custody, ruling that the trial court had failed to justify a flight risk. Despite his release, the imprisonment left lasting emotional trauma on his young daughter, who feared he had abandoned her and continues to plead with him not to leave whenever he steps out of their home.
Torres and his defense attorney received the official resolution from the Appeals Chamber on Thursday, August 13, 2026, permanently archiving the money laundering case for both the 2006 and 2011 election campaigns. Although the criminal case is closed, Torres faces accumulated debts and relies on family support as he prepares to demand state compensation for wrongful prosecution.
Torres and his lawyer have also filed criminal and administrative complaints against the three judges of the Third National Senior Penal Court: Juana Caballero, Nayko Coronado, and Max Vengoa. The complaints were submitted to the prosecutor's office and the National Control Authority of the Judiciary, known as the Autoridad Nacional de Control del Poder Judicial, seeking accountability for the overturned verdict.
