The indictment of former US President Donald Trump in New York has thrown the spotlight on former world leaders in Prison.

Trump can still run for president.

By the way, being behind bars doesn’t rule Trump out of the presidential race. There are no legal obstacles to running for president as a convicted felon. If Trump finds himself in that predicament, he’ll be following in the footsteps of another rabble-rousing populist: the avowed socialist Eugene V. Debs. He received nearly a million votes while in prison a century ago. 

He is far from alone. Prosecutors in 78 countries have indicted their former leaders since 2000, according to Axios New Service, including the democracies of Franc Israel and South Korea.

Half of the countries around the world have a presidential corruption case. 

Since 1980 around half of the countries in the world have had at least one case.

Among them, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was convicted in two cases in 2021 and sentenced to prison. He is appealing.

All power corrupts.

In South Korea judges sentenced former President Park Geun-hye to 24 years for Corruption. The state pardoned her in 2021 after she had served five.    

All power corrupts and you could write a book on those who siphoned off state funds and used their positions for their own ends. It is quite right too that former leaders should be brought to book – often the worst corruption goes on in impoverished countries that can least afford it.

Special prison for presidents.

Analysts say that it is good for democracy political stability and the international prestige of a country to see presidents brought to account  

Peru even has a special prison just for former presidents and it is currently full. Peruvian authorities constructed a new jail – Barbadillo – that was specifically designed for presidents. Located in the outskirts of Lima, Peru’s capital, its three cells are like apartments complete with offices, gardens, and outdoor terraces.

The biggest inmate is Alberto Fujimori a Peruvian politician of Japanese descent. Elected Peru’s president in 1990, he dissolved Peru’s legislature and judiciary in 1992 and ruled as a dictator. 

What Fujimori did.

With the support of Peru’s military, he oversaw a violent crackdown against a powerful guerilla group – the Shining Path. Critics accused him of overseeing atrocities, including mass executions. In 2000, Fujimori resigned and fled to Japan amid mounting corruption charges. He was later arrested, sent to Peru, and given 25 years in jail for human rights abuse.

Since Fujimori’s jailing in 2008, Peru has had eight presidents. Nearly all have faced criminal charges, impeachment, or pressure to resign; some have gone to Barbadillo.

What about those who escaped justice? 

As you could write a book on presidents on trial, you could write a library on those who escaped justice.

Take Idi Amin – the former dictator of Uganda who seized power in a military coup in 1971. He oversaw corruption, ethnic persecution, and the killing of tens of thousands of his own people until his regime fell in. 

Amin, a Muslim,  escaped justice, fleeing first to Libya, then Saudi Arabia, where he died in his own bed of organ failure in 2003.

Mengistu at large and in the lap of luxury.

One of the biggest fugitives from international justice is still at large and living a luxurious life in one of the best suburbs in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Mengisutu Haile Mariam arrived in a plane full of bullion at Harare airport when he was overthrown in Ethiopia in 1991. 

The Red Terror

The former army captain, who took power in a coup, oversaw the Red Terror in which at least 250,000 of his political opponents were slaughtered. Many were crucified on walls of the homes of their families.

There have been rumblings, in recent years, about returning Mengistu to Ethiopia to face genocide charges, but it is unlikely. 

Finally, there are those rare presidents who face trial on corruption charges and walk free.

$40 million in stolen state funds. 

Former president of Zambia Frederick Chiluba, who ousted 27-year incumbent Kenneth Kaunda in a free election in 1991, faced hundreds of charges of corruption after he left office.

Prosecutors claimed Chiluba and his cronies had stolen $40 million in state funds.

I covered that case in Lusaka back in 2007 and it was full of lurid accusations such as the claim intelligence men would arrive at the home of the head of the Reserve Bank in Lusaka demanding their car boot be filled with US dollars.

Money laundering in Switzerland? 

Also, allegations that Chiluba had been money laundering by buying suits in Switzerland worth a couple of thousand US dollars for tens of thousands. 

Yet all these allegations were foundered and the High Court in Lusaka acquitted Chiluba in 2009. He died in 2011.

Denmark: the least corrupt nation?  

Yet the world continues to secrete corruption like a silken web that cascades down from the president’s office.

Every year the watchdog Transparency International publishes a league table of corruption around the world:  Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2022.

It says prosperous Denmark is the least corrupt place in the world to live. Impoverished Somalia, Syria and South Sudan are among the most corrupt nations in the world.

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