Peru's Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced former left-wing president Pedro Castillo to 11 years, five months and 15 days in prison for trying to disband Congress and rule by decree in December 2022.

Dubbed Peru's first poor president, the former rural schoolteacher, who had never held elected office before winning the presidency, was impeached by Congress and jailed all in the same day following his attempted power grab.

He had repeatedly clashed with an opposition-dominated Congress during his 16 months in power.

The verdict in his case comes a day after another left-wing ex-president, Martin Vizcarra, was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment for bribe-taking while serving as a regional governor.

Vizcarra joined two other former presidents already behind bars at a special penitentiary

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