Former Peruvian Interior Minister and 2016 presidential hopeful Daniel Urresti has been charged for the murder of a journalist, who was killed in the 1980s during Peru's internal conflict.

The ex-minister denies the accusations, saying his political enemies made them.

The Associated Press reports Urresti has been charged with the murder of journalist Hugo Bustios. A reporter for the magazine Caretas, Bustios was killed in the provincial city of Huanta in 1988. The city was located at the epicenter of Peru's brutal internal conflict between government forces and the Maoist guerrilla group the Shining Path.

Prosecutor Luis Landa had condemned Urresti over the weekend to various news outlets, saying he sought a 25-year sentence for the retired army general. Landa argued that he had evidence proving Urresti, as army intelligence chief for the region, was responsible for the murder.

Two soldiers have already been imprisoned for the killing but one accused Urresti of being behind the murder. 

Urresti took to his Twitter account to claim his innocence and allege the accusations are politically motivated, a claim President Ollanta Humala agrees with, according to the AP. President Humala argued it was because he had joined his Nationalist Party.

The former interior minister resigned from the position in early February following protests against oil exploration in the Amazon that caused the death of a student. Only days after Urresti joined the Nationalist Party.

Following the claims of political motivations behind the charges, the Public Ministry released a statement to reassert its impartiality.

"The Public Ministry is an autonomous constitutional body that sponsors, ex officio or upon request, the criminal action in defense of legality; to that end, it investigates and charges public crimes independently and objectively," the statement said.

The statement continues to explain that if a party involved has issue with the prosecutor's investigation or charge, it can bring the case to an internal investigative office. "But, verbal attacks on the institution or its members are not justified in any way."

Peru's internal conflict began in 1980 and ended in 2000, claiming more than 70,000 lives, including those of journalists and students.