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 through which a choose handed the 73-year-old the utmost sentence.
The case towards him was linked to claims he ordered a lawyer to bribe jailed paramilitaries to discredit claims he had ties to their organisations. Uribe has all the time maintained his innocence.
The fitting-wing politician, who was president between 2002 and 2010, is finest identified for waging an aggressive offensive towards 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 struggle and defend his homeland”.
Uribe was initially convicted, partly, on testimony from a former paramilitary commander, Luis Carlos Velez, who stated 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 court docket additionally discovered that among the wiretaps used to open a proper investigation into Uribe had been obtained illegally.
The ruling might be appealed by individuals classed as victims within the case.
Colombia’s present and first left-wing President Gustavo Petro denounced the 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 struggle the Marxist-inspired guerrilla teams that had been battling the state for the reason that Nineteen Sixties.
Lots 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 assets.
Proper-wing paramilitary teams have been discovered accountable for massacres, disappearances and different atrocities.
Some left-wing guerilla outfits have additionally been discovered to have been concerned in massacres and threats towards Colombian residents, in keeping with Human Rights Watch.
