Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was found guilty of witness tampering and procedural fraud on Monday, the first time the country’s former head of state has been convicted of a criminal offense.
Judge Sandra Heredia said in more than 10 hours of reading of the verdict that the Attorney General’s office proved his involvement in the crime.
The ruling has not yet ended and Uribe’s legal team is expected to appeal. The Court of Appeal must rule by mid-October, otherwise the case will be beaten and revoked by the regulation.
Uribe, 73, followed an online lawsuit. The sentencing will be released at a separate hearing. He faces up to eight years in prison and may be arrested.
The former president was found guilty on two of the three charges. The separate simple bribery charge was discarded.
The case stems from a lawsuit by Uribe himself over a decade ago against left-wing senator Iván Cepeda, who investigated Uribe’s alleged ties to paramilitary groups.
The situation reversed in 2018, when Uribe himself was accused of putting pressure on the forward paramilitary prisoner to provide him with defence testimony. The lawsuit was repeatedly delayed until 2024 when allegations were filed against him.
Uribe is a conservative, presided from 2002 to 2010 and remains a divisive figure in Colombia. In a period of intense clashes with left-wing guerrilla groups, supporters view him as a staunch defender of national security. However, critics accused him of violating human rights and maintaining close ties with paramilitary forces.
Colombia has had decades of internal conflict between government forces, guerrillas and right-wing paramilitary personnel, killing an estimated 220,000 people and displaced millions.
Colombian Senator Ivan Cepeda addressed the media during the last trial of fraud and witness manipulation by former President Alvaro Uribe Velez. Sebastian Barros/Longvisual via Zuma Press Wire/DPA
