A court in the Peruvian capital, Lima, has acquitted the country's disgraced former intelligence chief of corruption and conspiracy charges.
Montesinos is already serving a nine-year sentence
Vladimiro Montesinos was accused of having secured a favourable judgement for a relative of the mayor of Callao, who faced drugs trafficking charges.
The acquittal is the first in a series of trials against Montesinos, who is already serving a nine-year sentence.
He was an important figure in President Alberto Fujimori's government.
Montesinos sparked the corruption scandal that brought down the government in 2000, when a video appeared apparently showing him bribing an opposition politician, Luis Alberto Kouri.
The Lima court also acquitted the mayor of the district of Callao, Alexander Kouri, who is the brother of the opposition politician, Efe news agency reported.
Montesinos is jailed in a high security naval base near Lima after being convicted of other offences.
He is awaiting trial on dozens of other charges, including money laundering and drug trafficking.