July 28 (UPI) -- Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez was convicted Monday of bribing a witness and procedural fraud, following several hours of sentencing in a case that spanned more than a decade.

Mr. Uribe, a towering figure in Colombian politics, was accused of trying to bribe a former paramilitary to retract testimony damaging to him.

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe found guilty of witness tampering, facing potential 12-year prison sentence in politicized case.

A judge on Monday found Colombian former President Alvaro Uribe guilty of abuse of process and bribery of a public official in a years-long witness-tampering case, making the right-wing politician the country's first ex-president ever convicted at trial. Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia read her decision aloud to the court. She…