While political leaders once seemed untouchable, recent years have begun to reveal a new pattern of accountability of former presidents. Heads of state are now facing prosecution, sentencing, and even imprisonment, especially after leaving office. This global shift signals the rise of political prosecution as a new form of democratic accountability.
Why Accountability of Former Presidents Is Rising Worldwide
In one of the most recent and striking cases, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in connection with an attempted coup after his 2022 defeat in a bid for reelection, according to multiple media sources (Associated Press, 2025). After a series of denied appeals, he started serving his long sentence in late November of 2025.
Bolsonaro’s fate conjures up another recent memory of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who was sentenced to 5 years for conspiracy to accept campaign funds from the late Libyan strongman, Muammar Gaddafi (Gozzi, 2025). After a few weeks in solitary confinement at Paris’ La Santé prison, Sarkozy was released pending appeal.
Peruvian courts also recently sentenced former president Pedro Castillo to an 11.5-year prison sentence for attempting to dissolve Congress (Stepansky & News Agencies, 2025). Likewise, U.S. president Donald Trump made headlines after being convicted of multiple felonies in 2024. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in Argentina, Ollanta Humala, Alan García, and Lula da Silva, along with many other former Latin American heads of state, have also been investigated or prosecuted for corruption in recent years. Clearly, accountability of former presidents is becoming more common around the world.
Informal Immunity Is Weakening
For most of modern history, presidents and prime ministers walked out of office with a kind of informal immunity. They typically enjoyed protection by political elites, party networks, and just the simple fear that prosecuting leaders could destabilize democracy. Therefore, this trend raises a critical question: have we reached the end of an era?
The Data: Prosecutions Are Increasing
These examples offer more than anecdotal evidence. Political scientists report a growing trend of former heads of state being prosecuted. A recent 2024 cross-national dataset on criminal accountability, the Heads of Government Convicted of Crimes (HGCC) (Da Ros & Gehrke, 2024), shows a 121% increase in the conviction rate for corruption charges from the early 2000s to the 2010s, in which there were 31 convictions. This same dataset found there were no such convictions from the 1940s to the 1960s and only one in the 1970s. All regions of the world are showing this trend.
A report by Freedom House (de la Iglesia, 2024) also found that increased conviction rates are not just happening among heads of unstable regimes. Even countries such as France, South Korea, and Israel are prosecuting former leaders. In short, political prosecution is becoming a global democratic phenomenon.
Why Now?
Political scientists and legal scholars point to three forces that explain why accountability of former presidents is increasing:
- Courts are more independent,
- Civil society and investigative journalism have strengthened,
- Citizens have changed.
Together, these shifts make corruption and abuses of power more visible, increasing the likelihood of prosecution.
Courts Have Become More Independent
In many Latin American countries, judicial systems were historically subordinate to the executive branch, particularly under military or hyper-presidential regimes. Since the 1970s, however, many states have undertaken reforms such as changes to appointment procedures, tenure protections, and the creation of constitutional courts. These reforms have aimed to increase judicial autonomy (Orrego Hoyos, 2021). While progress varies across countries, these reforms have expanded the capacity of courts to pursue politically sensitive cases with reduced risk of executive retaliation. Strengthening the rule of law erodes the traditional aura of presidential impunity in the region and increases democratic accountability.
Civil Society and Investigative Journalism Have Strengthened
In the last two decades, the growth of civil society organizations and investigative journalism has played a critical role in exposing political corruption across Latin America. Scholars argue that independent media ecosystems, especially those centered around leaks, whistleblowing, and cross-national investigative networks, have become increasingly influential in checking political power (Palau-Sampio, 2020).
Global collaborations such as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the Panama Papers project, and investigative partnerships surrounding Brazil’s Lava Jato case demonstrate how digital platforms and transnational reporting can uncover financial schemes that once operated with relative impunity. Therefore, the weakening of state information monopolies has made corruption more visible and politically costly, forcing judicial institutions and political elites to respond.
Citizens Have Changed
Younger generations in Latin America are simply not impressed by the old political class anymore. Regional surveys show collapsing trust in rulers and rising demands for transparency. Meanwhile, social media now turns every scandal into a public conversation. The result is a generation that questions “strongmen,” expects consequences, and sees immunity as outdated. This shift in civic attitudes is already reshaping the meaning of democratic accountability of former presidents, as we have previously explored in our piece on democracy in Latin America (Tuttle, 2025).
Political Prosecution or Democratic Accountability?
While it is tempting to count these changes as victories for political accountability and transparency, another counterargument deserves attention. Prosecuting heads of state may sometimes be the result of political witch hunts, often referred to as “lawfare.” In other words, legal systems can be weaponized to take opposition parties out of commission.
For instance, a 2017 study by Milena Ang Collan Granillo comparing contemporary and historical periods in Mexico found that politicized prosecutions are more likely to take place in democratic periods than in authoritarian ones. This finding suggests that under more democratic circumstances, judicial actors are more likely to align with opposition parties and collude with them to remove heads of state from the political scene. Authoritarian regimes, by comparison, are more likely to support one party, making it harder for judicial officers to align with their opposition.
Given this possibility, prosecuting leaders can sometimes strengthen the rule of law or deepen polarization. Not every prosecution is a triumph for democracy, and not every investigation is politically neutral. Therefore, the question is not simply, “Are leaders being prosecuted?” but, “Are institutions applying the law consistently, regardless of who holds power?”
Why It Matters for Democracy
Although much work remains to be done, increased levels of political prosecution are indicative of more democracy. While still preferable to alternative systems, democracy has drawbacks, and political lawfare is one of them. More opposition groups and more judicial independence increase the likelihood that judicial actors will align with political factions opposing the head of state.
Therefore, the next step is not merely “more prosecution,” but the construction of legal institutions capable of enforcing rules across political factions so that accountability of former presidents becomes a democratic practice rather than a partisan weapon.
The Real Test of Democratic Accountability
Ultimately, the test of democratic health is not whether leaders are prosecuted. It is whether the law applies even when it is politically inconvenient.
Related Articles
- What Happens When the Government Intervenes in the Country’s Institute of Statistics — explores how institutional independence affects transparency and data reliability.
- Brazil’s Sociopolitical Cataclysm: The Dangers of Unchecked Military Institutions — examines risks when military or extra-legal power is immune to oversight.
References
Ang Collan Granillo, M. (2017). Corrupting accountability: Elite control and corruption prosecution in comparative perspective (Publication No. 10606063) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. https://www.proquest.com/openview/a00f85a9ad702cb1ac18babc2a879ea7/1?cbl=18750&pq-origsite=gscholar
Associated Press. (2025, November 25). Former Brazilian president Bolsonaro begins 27-year prison sentence for coup attempt. Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/25/brazil-president-bolsonaro-prison-sentence-coup-attempt-00669193
Ee la Iglesia, M. (2024, May 15). US: International context for prosecuting former presidents. Freedom House. https://freedomhouse.org/article/us-international-context-prosecuting-former-presidents
Gozzi, L. (2025, November 10). Former French president Sarkozy released from prison after three weeks. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2eppqd2nyo
Orrego Hoyos, G. (2021). Judicial power and high courts in Latin America. GlobaLex, Hauser Global Law School Program, New York University School of Law. https://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/judicial_power_high_courts_latin_america.html
Palau-Sampio, Dolors. (2020). Shaping Regional Synergies: Digital Media, Investigative Reporting, and Collaboration for Improving Democracy and Accountability in Latin America. International Journal of Communication. 14. 6090-6112. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349181370_Shaping_Regional_Synergies_Digital_Media_Investigative_Reporting_and_Collaboration_for_Improving_Democracy_and_Accountability_in_Latin_America
Ros, L. D., & Gehrke, M. (2024). Convicting politicians for corruption: The politics of criminal accountability.Government and Opposition, 59(3), 951-975. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/gov.2023.48
Stepansky, J., & News Agencies. (2025, November 27). Former Peru president Pedro Castillo sentenced to 11.5 years in prison. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/11/27/former-peru-president-pedro-castillo-sentenced-to-11-5-years-in-prison
Tuttle, S. (2025, September 14). Democracy in Latin America is in crisis — Why it matters for the U.S. Suru Institute.https://suruinstitute.com/democracy-in-latin-america/