Under Peruvian law, the article says this means she will have to "report each week to a judge, have a fixed address, good behavior, and can't leave the country, among other conditions." She also has to pay a 400-dollar fine.

Obregón told the reporter: "This is intimidation against myself and so that other representatives won't keep defending the campesinos." The verdict has been appealed.

The report adds that a warrant is pending for Elsa Malpartida.

With the upcoming April 2006 elections, the arrest comes in the wake of unconfirmed rumors about the possibility of Obregón joining Ollanta Humala's presidential ticket as his vice presidential candidate. Rumors aside, however, last August Obregón visited Ollanta in Lima to confirm her commitment of support for his campaign in exchange for room on the congressional slate of his party—the Partido Nacionalista Peruano.

The arrest also came at a time when Humala has been making strong gains at the polls against current frontrunner Lourdes Flores of the conservative Unidad Nacional (UN) coalition. Support for Flores has hovered at about 25 percent in recent polls, but Humala has suprrised pollsters with a recent surge putting him at 17 percent, surpassing two other struggling campaigns—Valentín Paniagua and Alan García.