Latin America

People hang a banner reading "Uribe guilty", as they protest against former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe outside the Paloquemao court complex while waiting for the ruling in a criminal case against him, in Bogota, Colombia, July 28, 2025 [File: Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters]
Published On 29 Jul 2025

29 Jul 2025

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has been found guilty of witness tampering and bribery in a landmark trial, becoming the country’s first ex-president to ever be found guilty at trial.

Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia ruled on Monday that there was enough evidence to determine that Uribe, 73, conspired with a lawyer to coax three former members of paramilitary groups who were in prison into changing testimony they had provided to Ivan Cepeda, a left-wing senator who had launched an investigation into Uribe’s alleged ties to a paramilitary group in the 1990s.

The case dates to 2012, when Uribe filed a libel suit against Cepeda with the Supreme Court. But in a twist, the high court dismissed the charges against Cepeda and began investigating Uribe in 2018.

Uribe faces up to 12 years in prison, but a sentencing will be delivered in a separate hearing on Friday. He is expected to appeal the ruling.

Uribe’s critics have celebrated his trial as the deserved downfall of a man repeatedly accused of close relationships with violent right-wing paramilitaries, but never convicted of any crime.

More:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/29/colombia-ex-president-uribe-found-guilty-of-abuse-of-process-bribery