Peru's former football boss acquitted of two murder charges

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A court in Peru has acquitted the former president of the Peruvian Football Association, Edwin Oviedo, of charges of murdering two trade unionists in a long-running trial, his lawyer said on Thursday.

“Edwin Oviedo's innocence has been proven,” his lawyer Cesar Nakazaki told reporters after the Supreme Court's decision in the northern region of La Libertad.

“The court decided to acquit him after finding that the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence,” he added.

Oviedo was accused of ordering the murder of two union members who worked for a sugar company he controlled. The two members were shot dead in 2012 and 2015.

In 2019, prosecutors had demanded a 52-year prison sentence for Oviedo, who has always maintained his innocence.

The legal dispute forced him to resign as president of the Peruvian Football Association in December 2018.

The Peru national football team flourished under Oviedo's leadership, which began in January 2015, and three years later qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 36 years.

Oviedo spent 18 months in pre-trial detention and then another year and a half under house arrest after being accused of being the leader of a “corruption network” and mastermind of the murder of the two trade unionists.

The prosecution claimed that Oviedo ordered the killings in retaliation for protests organized against him at his sugar company.

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