Judge rejects attempt by former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo to block extradition

A federal judge in Washington on Thursday denied former President Alejandro Toledo’s request to block his extradition from the United States to Peruwhere he faces corruption charges.

His lawyers had requested an emergency stay earlier in the day to block his extradition, scheduled for Friday, following a California court decision.

“His emergency motion to stay extradition is denied,” Judge Beryl Howell said in an order Thursday.

The former Peruvian president’s lawyers argued in their presentation earlier this morning that the suspension of his detention and extradition was “necessary to avoid the imminent and irreparable damage of a wrongful deprivation of liberty, and possibly also of life” if it is extradited.

In his ruling, Howell said Toledo “has long enjoyed substantial process” in US courts to challenge his extradition. Howell, citing various legal factors, also said the former president had not “shown entitlement” to a stay of extradition from him.

On Wednesday, Toledo had asked the Washington District Court to reconsider its March 28 refusal to approve an injunction and temporary restraining order.

Toledo, who was president from 2001 to 2006, is wanted on charges that he received more than $25 million from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for help in obtaining public works contracts. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 20 years in prison.

Toledo has denied soliciting or receiving bribes and has not been criminally charged in the United States.

The former president was arrested in the United States in July 2019 following a formal request from Peru for his extradition. He was released on bond in 2020 and had been living in California until at least last year.

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