Colombia’s former president has had two convictions for fraud and bribery overturned after he was sentenced to 12 years of home arrest.
Alvaro Uribe turned the primary Colombian chief to be criminally convicted after a trial in August by which a decide handed the 73-year-old the utmost sentence.
The case in opposition to him was linked to claims he ordered a lawyer to bribe jailed paramilitaries to discredit claims he had ties to their organisations. Uribe has at all times maintained his innocence.
The suitable-wing politician, who was president between 2002 and 2010, is finest recognized for waging an aggressive offensive in opposition to left-wing Farc rebels and stays an influential determine within the South American nation.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio beforehand criticised Uribe’s conviction, arguing that his solely crime “has been to tirelessly combat and defend his homeland”.
Uribe was initially convicted, partly, on testimony from a former paramilitary commander, Luis Carlos Velez, who mentioned he had been paid bribes by the president’s lawyer, Diego Cadena.
However the Superior Court docket within the capital, Bogotá, discovered that the ex-commander’s testimony lacked credibility.
In its 700-page choice overturning the convictions, the courtroom additionally discovered that among the wiretaps used to open a proper investigation into Uribe had been obtained illegally.
The ruling could be appealed by individuals classed as victims within the case.
Colombia’s present and first left-wing President Gustavo Petro denounced the end result.
He wrote on X: “That is how the historical past of paramilitary governance in Colombia is roofed up, that’s, the historical past of politicians who got here to energy allied with drug trafficking.”
Paramilitary teams emerged in Colombia within the Eighties to combat the Marxist-inspired guerrilla teams that had been battling the state for the reason that Nineteen Sixties.
Most of the armed teams that developed within the battle made an earnings from the cocaine commerce. Lethal combating between them and with the state has produced lasting rivalries for trafficking routes and sources.
Proper-wing paramilitary teams have been discovered answerable for massacres, disappearances and different atrocities.
Some left-wing guerilla outfits have additionally been discovered to have been concerned in massacres and threats in opposition to Colombian residents, in accordance with Human Rights Watch.
