CORRECTS - Peru: Protests over ruling freeing opposition leader

NEW HEADLINE, DECK, CORRECTS NAME OF PARDONED LEADER, EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - Peruvians took to streets on Monday protesting the release of opposition leader Keiko Fujimori from detention while under investigation for corruption.

Thousands gathered in the capital Lima to protest Sunday's Constitutional Court ruling setting free Fujimori, former far-right leader of the Popular Force party and daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, local daily La Republica reported.

The court vote to release Fujimori -- which did not decide on her guilt or innocence on bribery charges -- was 4-3.

Fujimori has been behind bars since October 2018, in preventative detention during an investigation of alleged illegal funding for her election campaign by Odebrecht, a Brazilian construction company.

Fujimori sought the presidency in the general elections of 2011 and 2016, but was narrowly defeated in both, with 48.5% and 49.8% of the vote, respectively.

Her father Alberto Fujimori is currently serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses carried out while he was Peru’s leader, from 1990 to 2000.