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High-profile world leaders who have been sent to jail
- Brazil's former president, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, has been sentenced to jail. The ex-leader has pleaded guilty of passive corruption and money laundering.
Click here to find out which other political leaders from around the world have also spent time behind bars.
© Reuters
0 / 39 Fotos
Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil) - The former Brazilian leader has been sentenced to prison, after his requests for habeas corpus were denied by the Brazilian Supreme Court.
© Reuters
1 / 39 Fotos
Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil) - The former president was sentenced to 12 years and one month in prison owing to the 'Triplex case,' which included charges of passive corruption and money laundering.
© Reuters
2 / 39 Fotos
Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil) - The country was split by protests for and against the former leader, who had been hoping to run again for the elections this year.
© Reuters
3 / 39 Fotos
Park Geun-hye (South Korea) - The former president was sentenced to 24 years in prison on April 6 for abusing her power and for corruption in a scandal which unveiled two-way dealing between conglomerates and politicians, reported The Guardian.
© Getty Images
4 / 39 Fotos
Park Geun-hye (South Korea) - According to Reuters, the court ordered the ex-president to pay fines totaling 18 billion wons, equivalent to about $16.2 million.
© Getty Images
5 / 39 Fotos
Park Geun-hye (South Korea) - Her sentence was delivered live on TV, owing to the huge public interest. The scandal caused several protests across the country.
© Getty Images
6 / 39 Fotos
Ehud Olmert (Israel) - In July 2017, the former Primer Minister was released from jail after completing 16 of his 27-month prison sentence for fraud and bribery, reported the Telegraph.
© Reuters
7 / 39 Fotos
Ehud Olmert (Israel) - When he was sentenced in 2014, Olmert was the country's first Prime Minister to go to prison. However, he was accused of receiving bribes when he was Mayor of Jerusalem and Minister of Commerce.
© Reuters
8 / 39 Fotos
Moshe Katsav (Israel) - The ex-president was released from jail early after doing five of his seven-year prison sentence, said the Independent.
© Reuters
9 / 39 Fotos
Moshe Katsav (Israel) - The former politician was accused of rape, and his sentence was seen as a victory for equal rights for women in the eyes of the law, stated the British news site.
© Reuters
10 / 39 Fotos
Ricardo Martinelli (Panama) - In June 2017, Panama's former president, who was in power from 2009 to 2014, was arrested in Miami, US. Interpol released a 'red notice' for his arrest, which was requested by Panama's Supreme Court of Justice.
© Reuters
11 / 39 Fotos
Ricardo Martinelli (Panama) - According to The New York Times, Martinelli had moved to the south of Florida shortly after he left office and requested political asylum, saying that the new president had presented a case against him for political reasons.
© Reuters
12 / 39 Fotos
Ricardo Martinelli (Panama) - Accused of corruption, embezzlement, and phone tapping, Martinelli is still in jail in the US, but he could be extradited to Panama at any moment, according to Agencia EFE.
© Reuters
13 / 39 Fotos
Alejandro Toledo (Peru) - Reuters reports that a Peruvian judge released an international arrest warrant for the former president, Alejandro Toledo, in February 2017.
© Reuters
14 / 39 Fotos
Alejandro Toledo (Peru) - Judge Richard Concepcion sentenced Toledo to 18 months in jail, while prosecutors investigated his alleged acceptance of $20 million in bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht SA.
© Reuters
15 / 39 Fotos
Alejandro Toledo (Peru) - The former president was accused of accepting generous bribes from this company and consequently awarding them public works contracts, such as the construction of the Transoceanic highway linking North Brazil to the Peruvian coast, during the time when he was in power from 2001 to 2006. The authorities offered a reward of up to $30,000 to capture Toledo, according to the BBC.
© Reuters
16 / 39 Fotos
Alejandro Toledo (Peru) - Toledo is on the run in the USA. On March 13, the BBC reported that the Supreme Court of Peru agreed to ask the White House for the extradition of the former president.
© Reuters
17 / 39 Fotos
Alberto Fujimori (Peru) - According to Reuters, in 2009 the former Peruvian president, who was in power from 1990 to 2000, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for corruption and violating human rights.
© Reuters
18 / 39 Fotos
Alberto Fujimori (Peru) - The news agency confirmed that at the time, Fujimori was the first democratically-elected Latin American president to have been found guilty of crimes in his own country.
© Reuters
19 / 39 Fotos
Alberto Fujimori (Peru) - Last December, Peru's people rose up in arms when the current president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, pardoned Fujimori and granted him an early release from his 25-year prison sentence, reported The Guardian.
© Reuters
20 / 39 Fotos
Carlos Menem (Argentina) - Accused of smuggling weapons to Croatia and Ecuador in the 90s, Argentina's former president was sentenced to seven years in prison, reported Reuters.
© Reuters
21 / 39 Fotos
Carlos Menem (Argentina) - The former leader served some months under house arrest in 2001. But ever since he won the elections to become a Senator in 2005, the parliamentary immunity that came with the role has prevented the Supreme Court from sending him to jail.
© Reuters
22 / 39 Fotos
José Sócrates (Portugal) - In 2014, Portugal's former Prime Minister was imprisoned for suspected involvement in tax fraud, money laundering, and corruption, reported the BBC.
© Reuters
23 / 39 Fotos
José Sócrates (Portugal) - The politician was released after 10 months incarceration, both under house arrest and in Évora jail.
© Reuters
24 / 39 Fotos
Hosni Mubarak (Egypt) - In March 2017, the former President of Egypt was released after six years of imprisonment, even though he had spent most of this time in military hospital, reported The Guardian.
© Reuters
25 / 39 Fotos
Hosni Mubarak (Egypt) - The dictator was accused of conspiring in the murder of 239 demonstrators, which gave him a life sentence.
© Reuters
26 / 39 Fotos
Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan) - According to ABC, the former President was convicted for ordering the dismissal of judges in 2013.
© Reuters
27 / 39 Fotos
Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan) - Musharraf was kept under house arrest for almost six months.
© Reuters
28 / 39 Fotos
Otto Pérez Molina (Guatemala) - Involved in a huge corruption scandal, Molina gave up his position as president in 2015 and was arrested in September of the same year.
© Reuters
29 / 39 Fotos
Otto Pérez Molina (Guatemala) - According to The New Yorker, Otto Pérez Molina's imprisonment was the result of the efforts of the Guatemalan Department of Justice, who worked closely with the United Nations International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala.
© Reuters
30 / 39 Fotos
Augusto Pinochet (Chile) - The former Chilean dictator was arrested at the age of 82 in 1998 for crimes including genocide and terrorism. The Guardian reported that the General was captured in a London hospital - he was held soon after undergoing surgery.
© Reuters
31 / 39 Fotos
Augusto Pinochet (Chile) - British authorities arrived with an arrest warrant - a Red Notice from Interpol - which alleged that, between 1973 and 1983, Pinochet had ordered the murder of Spanish citizens, said the newspaper.
© Getty Images
32 / 39 Fotos
Nicolas Sarkozy (France) - On March 29 2018, the BBC revealed that the former French President would face a trial for corruption and influence peddling.
© Reuters
33 / 39 Fotos
Nicolas Sarkozy (France) - Sarkozy, who was the French President from 2007 to 2012, has been accused of trying to corrupt a judge.
© Reuters
34 / 39 Fotos
Nicolas Sarkozy (France) - The BBC further reports that the French politician was held on March 20 for questions on a sum of 50€ million, which he allegedly received from Libya to finance his presidency campaign.
© Reuters
35 / 39 Fotos
Silvio Berlusconi (Italy) - Italy's former Prime Minister was sentenced to three years in jail in 2015 for corruption charges when he was a Senator. Berlusconi got out of serving this sentence, however, as the statue of limitations on bribery had expired by the time the appeals process was finished, according to the Independent.
© Getty Images
36 / 39 Fotos
Silvio Berlusconi (Italy) - The former leader has already been involved in many other court cases, said the BBC in 2013, and was even sentenced to one year of community service for tax fraud.
© Reuters
37 / 39 Fotos
Silvio Berlusconi (Italy) - In March 2018, Berlusconi was accused of witness tampering. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Italian politician had bribed four women to lie about his relationship with an underage prostitute.
© Reuters
38 / 39 Fotos
High-profile world leaders who have been sent to jail
- Brazil's former president, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, has been sentenced to jail. The ex-leader has pleaded guilty of passive corruption and money laundering.
Click here to find out which other political leaders from around the world have also spent time behind bars.
© Reuters
0 / 39 Fotos
Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil) - The former Brazilian leader has been sentenced to prison, after his requests for habeas corpus were denied by the Brazilian Supreme Court.
© Reuters
1 / 39 Fotos
Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil) - The former president was sentenced to 12 years and one month in prison owing to the 'Triplex case,' which included charges of passive corruption and money laundering.
© Reuters
2 / 39 Fotos
Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil) - The country was split by protests for and against the former leader, who had been hoping to run again for the elections this year.
© Reuters
3 / 39 Fotos
Park Geun-hye (South Korea) - The former president was sentenced to 24 years in prison on April 6 for abusing her power and for corruption in a scandal which unveiled two-way dealing between conglomerates and politicians, reported The Guardian.
© Getty Images
4 / 39 Fotos
Park Geun-hye (South Korea) - According to Reuters, the court ordered the ex-president to pay fines totaling 18 billion wons, equivalent to about $16.2 million.
© Getty Images
5 / 39 Fotos
Park Geun-hye (South Korea) - Her sentence was delivered live on TV, owing to the huge public interest. The scandal caused several protests across the country.
© Getty Images
6 / 39 Fotos
Ehud Olmert (Israel) - In July 2017, the former Primer Minister was released from jail after completing 16 of his 27-month prison sentence for fraud and bribery, reported the Telegraph.
© Reuters
7 / 39 Fotos
Ehud Olmert (Israel) - When he was sentenced in 2014, Olmert was the country's first Prime Minister to go to prison. However, he was accused of receiving bribes when he was Mayor of Jerusalem and Minister of Commerce.
© Reuters
8 / 39 Fotos
Moshe Katsav (Israel) - The ex-president was released from jail early after doing five of his seven-year prison sentence, said the Independent.
© Reuters
9 / 39 Fotos
Moshe Katsav (Israel) - The former politician was accused of rape, and his sentence was seen as a victory for equal rights for women in the eyes of the law, stated the British news site.
© Reuters
10 / 39 Fotos
Ricardo Martinelli (Panama) - In June 2017, Panama's former president, who was in power from 2009 to 2014, was arrested in Miami, US. Interpol released a 'red notice' for his arrest, which was requested by Panama's Supreme Court of Justice.
© Reuters
11 / 39 Fotos
Ricardo Martinelli (Panama) - According to The New York Times, Martinelli had moved to the south of Florida shortly after he left office and requested political asylum, saying that the new president had presented a case against him for political reasons.
© Reuters
12 / 39 Fotos
Ricardo Martinelli (Panama) - Accused of corruption, embezzlement, and phone tapping, Martinelli is still in jail in the US, but he could be extradited to Panama at any moment, according to Agencia EFE.
© Reuters
13 / 39 Fotos
Alejandro Toledo (Peru) - Reuters reports that a Peruvian judge released an international arrest warrant for the former president, Alejandro Toledo, in February 2017.
© Reuters
14 / 39 Fotos
Alejandro Toledo (Peru) - Judge Richard Concepcion sentenced Toledo to 18 months in jail, while prosecutors investigated his alleged acceptance of $20 million in bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht SA.
© Reuters
15 / 39 Fotos
Alejandro Toledo (Peru) - The former president was accused of accepting generous bribes from this company and consequently awarding them public works contracts, such as the construction of the Transoceanic highway linking North Brazil to the Peruvian coast, during the time when he was in power from 2001 to 2006. The authorities offered a reward of up to $30,000 to capture Toledo, according to the BBC.
© Reuters
16 / 39 Fotos
Alejandro Toledo (Peru) - Toledo is on the run in the USA. On March 13, the BBC reported that the Supreme Court of Peru agreed to ask the White House for the extradition of the former president.
© Reuters
17 / 39 Fotos
Alberto Fujimori (Peru) - According to Reuters, in 2009 the former Peruvian president, who was in power from 1990 to 2000, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for corruption and violating human rights.
© Reuters
18 / 39 Fotos
Alberto Fujimori (Peru) - The news agency confirmed that at the time, Fujimori was the first democratically-elected Latin American president to have been found guilty of crimes in his own country.
© Reuters
19 / 39 Fotos
Alberto Fujimori (Peru) - Last December, Peru's people rose up in arms when the current president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, pardoned Fujimori and granted him an early release from his 25-year prison sentence, reported The Guardian.
© Reuters
20 / 39 Fotos
Carlos Menem (Argentina) - Accused of smuggling weapons to Croatia and Ecuador in the 90s, Argentina's former president was sentenced to seven years in prison, reported Reuters.
© Reuters
21 / 39 Fotos
Carlos Menem (Argentina) - The former leader served some months under house arrest in 2001. But ever since he won the elections to become a Senator in 2005, the parliamentary immunity that came with the role has prevented the Supreme Court from sending him to jail.
© Reuters
22 / 39 Fotos
José Sócrates (Portugal) - In 2014, Portugal's former Prime Minister was imprisoned for suspected involvement in tax fraud, money laundering, and corruption, reported the BBC.
© Reuters
23 / 39 Fotos
José Sócrates (Portugal) - The politician was released after 10 months incarceration, both under house arrest and in Évora jail.
© Reuters
24 / 39 Fotos
Hosni Mubarak (Egypt) - In March 2017, the former President of Egypt was released after six years of imprisonment, even though he had spent most of this time in military hospital, reported The Guardian.
© Reuters
25 / 39 Fotos
Hosni Mubarak (Egypt) - The dictator was accused of conspiring in the murder of 239 demonstrators, which gave him a life sentence.
© Reuters
26 / 39 Fotos
Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan) - According to ABC, the former President was convicted for ordering the dismissal of judges in 2013.
© Reuters
27 / 39 Fotos
Pervez Musharraf (Pakistan) - Musharraf was kept under house arrest for almost six months.
© Reuters
28 / 39 Fotos
Otto Pérez Molina (Guatemala) - Involved in a huge corruption scandal, Molina gave up his position as president in 2015 and was arrested in September of the same year.
© Reuters
29 / 39 Fotos
Otto Pérez Molina (Guatemala) - According to The New Yorker, Otto Pérez Molina's imprisonment was the result of the efforts of the Guatemalan Department of Justice, who worked closely with the United Nations International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala.
© Reuters
30 / 39 Fotos
Augusto Pinochet (Chile) - The former Chilean dictator was arrested at the age of 82 in 1998 for crimes including genocide and terrorism. The Guardian reported that the General was captured in a London hospital - he was held soon after undergoing surgery.
© Reuters
31 / 39 Fotos
Augusto Pinochet (Chile) - British authorities arrived with an arrest warrant - a Red Notice from Interpol - which alleged that, between 1973 and 1983, Pinochet had ordered the murder of Spanish citizens, said the newspaper.
© Getty Images
32 / 39 Fotos
Nicolas Sarkozy (France) - On March 29 2018, the BBC revealed that the former French President would face a trial for corruption and influence peddling.
© Reuters
33 / 39 Fotos
Nicolas Sarkozy (France) - Sarkozy, who was the French President from 2007 to 2012, has been accused of trying to corrupt a judge.
© Reuters
34 / 39 Fotos
Nicolas Sarkozy (France) - The BBC further reports that the French politician was held on March 20 for questions on a sum of 50€ million, which he allegedly received from Libya to finance his presidency campaign.
© Reuters
35 / 39 Fotos
Silvio Berlusconi (Italy) - Italy's former Prime Minister was sentenced to three years in jail in 2015 for corruption charges when he was a Senator. Berlusconi got out of serving this sentence, however, as the statue of limitations on bribery had expired by the time the appeals process was finished, according to the Independent.
© Getty Images
36 / 39 Fotos
Silvio Berlusconi (Italy) - The former leader has already been involved in many other court cases, said the BBC in 2013, and was even sentenced to one year of community service for tax fraud.
© Reuters
37 / 39 Fotos
Silvio Berlusconi (Italy) - In March 2018, Berlusconi was accused of witness tampering. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Italian politician had bribed four women to lie about his relationship with an underage prostitute.
© Reuters
38 / 39 Fotos
High-profile world leaders who have been sent to jail
The former president of Brazil, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, is the latest politician to be given a prison sentence
© Getty Images/Reuters
After having requests for habeas corpus denied by the Brazilian Supreme Court, the former Brazilian president, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, was sentenced to prison under charges of passive corruption and money laundering.
Click here to find out which other political leaders from around the world have also spent time behind bars.
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