US court suspends extradition of Toledo, former Peruvian president

A US Court of Appeals has suspended the extradition process of former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo for 14 days, accepting an "emergency" appeal by the lawyers of the person concerned in order to present new elements in a defense brief. The sentence of the court of the 9th Circuit of San Francisco, reports the Peruvian radio Rpp, also temporarily blocks an order that weighs on Toledo, accused of corruption in his country, so that he could present himself today at an office of the US body that must enforce the his extradition to Peru. Toledo, who is 77, is engaged in a battle to prevent his extradition to Peru from becoming a reality. He was arrested in 2019 in California on charges of pocketing bribes from the Brazilian company Odebrecht when he was in power (2001-2006), and spent eight months in pretrial detention to avert the risk of his escape, then passing in March 2020 under house arrest.