Ex-Colombian President Álvaro Uribe given 12 years of house arrest

Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez was sentenced Friday to 12 years of house arrest for bribery in criminal proceedings and procedural fraud.

Uribe also was ordered to pay a fine equivalent to $820,000 and was barred from holding public office for more than eight years.

Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia found Uribe guilty Thursday of those crimes and issued a historic ruling against him, making him the first former Colombian president to be criminally convicted in the country's modern judicial history.

The ruling has polarized the country. While Uribe's supporters denounce it as "political persecution," many victims of human rights violations say it finally sets a precedent for justice.

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• Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe found guilty of bribery and fraud

Uribe's legal team is to have Bogotá Superior Court consider an appeal Aug. 11, leaving uncertainty over whether the sentence will be enforced or suspended while the appeal process proceeds.

The case began in 2012, when then-Sen. Álvaro Uribe filed a complaint against Sen. Iván Cepeda Castro, accusing him of witness tampering in an effort to link Uribe to illegal armed groups. But the investigation soon took an unexpected turn.

The Supreme Court of Justice, which initially investigated Cepeda, found evidence that individuals close to Uribe had offered financial, legal and administrative benefits to former paramilitaries and guerrilla fighters in exchange for testimony against Cepeda.

Uribe was then charged with manipulating evidence and misleading the justice system to influence judges and secure rulings favorable to his interests -- in the very investigation he had initiated against Cepeda.

After the sentencing, Historical Pact Sen. Wilson Arias said. "Twelve years in prison for Álvaro Uribe-- and no, this is not political persecution. No one reported him: he initiated a vendetta against Iván Cepeda and, along the way, committed the crimes of witness tampering and procedural fraud," the Colombian newspaper El Mundo reported.

On her X account, Rep. Alexandra Vásquez wrote that "justice has spoken and stood above economic and political power."

Former President Iván Duque released a video in which he claimed that a group of 28 former presidents from IDEA and Libertad y Democracia have called for international oversight due to serious irregularities in the case against Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

"Human rights treaties were violated, and there is not a single piece of evidence to justify a conviction. Uribe is innocent," he said.

Christian Garcés Aljure, a member of Colombia's House of Representatives, wrote on X: "They want to silence our top leader -- the man holding back the socialist advance in South America. They will not defeat us!"

During his presidency, Uribe implemented a policy known as "Democratic Security," which reduced kidnapping and homicide rates and supported the demobilization of paramilitary and guerrilla forces.

However, Uribe also faced sharp criticism over alleged human rights violations and the demobilization of paramilitary groups with impunity. His presidency was further overshadowed by the "false positives" scandal, in which thousands of civilians were killed by the military and falsely labeled as guerrilla fighters killed in combat.

According to the investigation, between 2012 and 2018, imprisoned paramilitaries were paid and pressured to change their testimony linking Uribe to illegal armed groups.