Colombia ex-president Uribe guilty of abuse of process, bribery of public official
A Colombian judge on Monday convicted former President Alvaro Uribe of abuse of process and bribery of a public official in a long-running witness tampering case, making him the country’s first ex-president to ever be found guilty at trial.
Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia read her decision aloud to the court over the course of some ten hours. She found the right-wing politician not guilty of a separate bribery charge.
The ruling, which Uribe’s legal team said he will appeal, is the latest decision in a hugely politicized case that has run for about 13 years.
The decision comes less than a year before Colombia’s 2026 presidential election, in which several of Uribe’s allies and proteges are competing for the country’s top office.
Uribe, 73, and his supporters say the process is a persecution and that he is innocent. His detractors have celebrated it as the deserved downfall for a man who has been repeatedly accused of close relationships with violent right-wing paramilitaries, but never convicted of any crime.
Colombia ex-president Uribe guilty of abuse of process, bribery of public official
